TOWCaBeT
by pacphys
Summary: The Turtles stumble into a world where humanoid animals are the norm. Now, can they find they're way back?
1. Through the Alley Wall

Disclaimer: I don't own Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo. Nor do I own the Foot or the Purple Dragons. All are the genius creations of Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, and are currently owned by Mirage. I am simply playing in their universe(s) for a while. I don't get paid for this, please don't sue me!

A/N: Alright people, I had another weird dream that led to this little concoction of fiction. My conscious mind could never come up with something quite this bizarre. There is only a hint of the dream at the very end of this chapter, but I'll let you know when we get into more of it.

* * *

Chapter 1 - Through the Alley Wall 

Four turtles raced over the rooftops of New York City on their normal nightly training run. Seeing a slanted section coming up to the side of them Michelangelo jumped to the next roof.

"Wah hoo!" The orange-clad turtle cried as he slid down the ramp. He flipped off the end and jumped back across the gap to regroup with the others.

Donatello was closely following Raphael, so closely that the red-clad turtle's sudden stop nearly resulted in him getting bowled over by his brother. Leonardo and Michelangelo, who had been running to their left, had already made the leap to the next rooftop and turned around when they realized that two of their brothers were no longer with them. Instead the sai and staff wielding turtles were looking down from the roof into the alleyway below. Mikey and Leo went to their own ledge and looked over. Below them was a sight that had put an end to more fun and friendly training runs than they could even count anymore.

"Again? How many times have our runs been interrupted by this kind of junk?" Raphael asked, intending the question to be rhetorical.

"742, if you count this one." Donatello supplied.

Well, it was more than _most_ people could count. Raphael had learned long ago to make exceptions for this particular brother. _Isn't counting things like that a sign of obsessive compulsive disorder? I wonder if he even gives real numbers or if he just pulls them out of the air? _Raphael didn't say anything, but he sent his brother a _you would know that_ glare. Don just shrugged in response. Pulling out his sais Raph looked to Leo for confirmation. Leo removed his swords from their place on his back and Donatello and Michelangelo followed suit by pulling out their own weapons. The Turtles leapt from the rooftop and landed in the alley where a group of Purple Dragons were terrorizing a young couple. The alley wasn't lit, which was probably why the Dragons had chosen that particular place, but the moon was full and high in the sky.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Leo was standing right behind a Dragon, practically breathing down the guy's neck. When the punk whipped around he found himself face to face with Leo's katana.

"shi…" Before he could finish the expletive Leonardo brought up an elbow and knocked him unconscious. His buddies turned around hearing their friend's curse.

"You didn't really think you'd get away with this did you?" Raphael asked dangerously.

The Dragons started to run out of the alley. Only to be confronted by a smiling Michelangelo.

"Nuh, uh, uh, not on our watch, boys." His nunachukas whirled and the two nearest Dragons were quickly knocked unconscious.

Noticing the couple huddled in the corner of the alleyway Leo hurried toward them. "Run." He didn't have to tell them twice. The couple raced out of the alley. As they hurried by him, Donatello caught a Dragon on the end of his staff and threw the guy clear of the fleeing couple.

The two would-be victims had escaped and the Turtles were mopping up the mess when something quite unexpected happened. Evidently someone had called for back up, because it was on its way, in the form of the Foot. Above them on the rooftops, Leo could see the telltale forms of foot ninjas so that escape route was out. In front of them lay a sea of Purple Dragons as well as several dark Foot ninja who had come to their aid.

"Well, this is it guys." Leo knew that they had their backs to the wall, figuratively and literally. There was no where for them to go, no escape route this time. No other options forthcoming the Turtles charged. Michelangelo took a hit and flew right through the wall, as if there had been nothing there.

"Mikey!" Raphael cried out and he charged after his brother, also passing through the wall.

"Leo!" Don called, "Raph and Mike just disappeared!"

"We're staying together. Follow them, Donnie, I'm on my way!"

Don hesitated, but as Leo closed in on the strange spot in the wall Don dove through, followed closely by his brother. The pair landed in a heap of arms, legs and weapons.

"AH!" Don shouted when one of Leo's katana found his calf. "Careful!"

It wasn't until the two stood and brushed themselves off that they realized something was very, very wrong with this picture. Not only were they standing in the middle of what could only be described as a meadow rather than the dark alley of moments ago, but the sun was shining brightly overhead, the bees were buzzing and the birds were singing. It was all so wrong. Leo called out for his missing brothers as Donatello dug through his bag of tricks for something to stop his leg from bleeding.

"Mikey? Raph?" Leonardo called out again. He started to wander off in search of his missing brothers, but the sound of Donnie clearing his throat brought Leo back.

"Hey Leo, you mind giving me a hand with this?" Don asked quietly while trying to keep the gauze in place over the gash in his leg. While he could usually patch this kind of thing up without too much trouble there were times that he wished he had three hands, and this was one of them.

"Don, are you bleeding?"

"No, this is ketchup running down my leg." Donatello deadpanned. "Yes, I'm bleeding. That's what happens when a katana slices open your calf."

Leo hurried over to help his brother. They could search for Mikey and Raph after Don was taken care of.

* * *

Raphael could hear his brother call their names, and Leo was worried by the sound of it. _And he has every right to be._ Raph was none too fond of the scene he was looking at, but it didn't seem that Michelangelo had noticed them yet. 

Mikey made a move to call back to Leo, but Raphael slapped a hand over his mouth before he could make a sound.

The sudden movement startled the orange-clad turtle, and he couldn't figure out what had Raph so worked up. Raphael put a finger to his lips indicating that Mikey was to be quiet. Then he pointed over to the pond. The water was clear, blue and beautiful. The grass was the most amazing shade of green that Mikey had ever seen on grass. Little purple and yellow flowers bloomed around the pond and, for a while, Michelangelo had no idea what Raph was so upset about. It took a moment, but he finally saw it, no, them. He saw _them_, by his count there were at least four. As it was he wasn't sure if he was looking at alligators or crocodiles. Although, considering that they were obviously no longer in New York, and quite possibly no longer in their own dimension he had a feeling that the creatures playing in the water were neither one so it didn't really matter anyway. Mikey couldn't prevent the gasp at noticing the creatures. One of them looked up from its place in the water and locked eyes with the two now rather terrified turtles.

Michelangelo and Raphael held perfectly still, hoping that the alligator creature wouldn't notice their presence. They watched in horror as the attention of the other three crocs also drifted their direction.

"Oh shell,"

* * *

A/N: So what do you think? What do you think? 


	2. Not a Gairen

Disclaimer: I have a couple of plushies (Donnie and Mikey) from some arcade from… I don't actually remember when I got them and an action figure (Do I even have to tell you?), do they count? No? Ok then. I own nothing, I am paid nothing, and I mean no harm. Please don't sue!

* * *

Chapter 2 - Not a Gairen 

"We know you're there, so you might as well come out." The first alligator creature called. When Raphael and Michelangelo didn't move it tried again. "We can see you in the shrubs over there. We won't hurt you, go ahead and come out.

"Do we trust a crocodile?" Michelangelo asked Raphael quietly.

"I don't think we've got a choice." Raph reluctantly responded, and the red masked turtle stepped out of the bushes and showed himself to the alligators. He could feel Michelangelo behind him doing the same.

"He look, Alison, they're gairen. When's the last time you saw a gairen out this way?"

"It's been a while. I thought they knew better than to come out here. Evidently, these two don't. They are children though."

"What's a gairen?" Michelangelo asked Raph. All he received from his brother was a shrug.

"Silly boys, that won't work on us." The nearest alligator sneered. "You are a gairen. The shell on your back all but proves it."

"We're not gairen, and we're not children. We're turtles." Raphael insisted.

"Yeah, we just fell through a… well, back home it was a wall. Here… I don't know we just kind of landed here. We're really sorry. We didn't mean to upset you."

"Outsiders," One of the alligators breathed in shock. "Come, let us take you to the city where you can find a place to stay."

"What about our brothers?" Michelangelo didn't want to go anywhere without Leo and Donnie.

"There are more of you?" Alison asked. "Sarah, if they didn't land together…"

"Young turtles," Sarah explained. "If your brothers did not land with you it is highly likely that they are not in this world."

"We heard Leo calling just before you saw us and Donnie should be with him."

"You are lucky; they must have been very close behind you. Come, we shall try to find your brothers."

* * *

"Raph! Mikey!" 

"Michelangelo!"

"Do you think they even came through to the same place?" Don asked suddenly.

"Let's assume they did for now." Leo responded. He didn't even want to consider the thought Don had just put into his head. "Raphael!"

The two turtles heard movement coming from the nearby forest. It was something big, and it was moving quickly. Leo and Don drew their weapons and watched in amazement as Mikey bounded from the trees. The two turtles standing in the middle of the field barely had a chance to get their weapons away before they were tackled by their overenthusiastic brother.

"Leo, Donnie, you're here!"

"Yeah," Leo assured him from the ground, "We're here. Are you going to let us up now?"

Mikey got up and helped pull Leo to his feet before reaching down again for Don. Raphael ran up beside his brothers.

"Shell, Donnie." Raph exclaimed, noticing the bandage on his brother's leg. "Who did this to you?"

Donatello pointed a thumb at the blue-masked culprit, and Leo looked down at the ground. "When we fell through he landed on top of me and one of his blades got my leg. It's fine." At that moment Don noticed the four alligators emerging into the meadow. "Raph, please tell me you know these uh… people."

"Oh yeah, they're going to show us the city."

"City?" Leo questioned, he couldn't imagine a city anywhere around here. The landscape was far too picturesque, too natural for there to be a city nearby.

"Yup," Mikey confirmed, "meet Alison, Sarah, Megan and Lindsey. Uh, I'm not sure which one's which." Mike confided to his two confused brothers before turning back to the alligator people. "This is Leo and Donnie."

"Very nice to meet you," Megan said politely, "but we must be getting back to town if we're to find a place for you to stay before we have to get to work."

"Um, we don't…" Leo began, but he couldn't finish as he wasn't sure how to end the sentence he had started.

"Don't what, honey?"

Leo was almost too surprised at being called honey to continue, but based on their voices and how they acted, he would guess that they were about Splinter's age.

"We don't have any way to pay for a place to stay." Donatello finished for Leo.

"Don't worry, young ones, I do believe there are four openings at a restaurant in town. If that sounds like something that might interest you for the time being you are more than welcome to take the jobs."

"It doesn't have to be anything permanent. You can have them for as long as you need them."

"Or until you find something better. Your brothers are nice enough that you should all do quite well in the positions, if you choose to accept."

"The pay's not great, but it's enough for you to get a place to stay."

The paragraph had been handed off between all four crocodiles, and paying attention to the current speaker was kind of like watching someone play pinball. Don knew that he and his brothers did that too and couldn't help but wonder if they left people as baffled as he was now. _Probably not, _he decided. It wasn't their paragraph passing that confused him as much as what they had actually said. _ We've been here five minutes and they're already offering us jobs and places to stay? What's going on here?_ From the look on Leo's face his brother was just as mystified by the turn of events as he was.

"Um, I guess that's the best option we have." Leo finally agreed tentatively.

Four turtles followed four alligators out of the meadow and toward the city that Leo still couldn't see, or even imagine anywhere near a place like this.

They came to the crest of a nearby hill and just beyond lay a metropolis. It was huge, and Leo couldn't fathom just how this city hadn't spread into the meadow they had just left. All the same, his eyes insisted that a city was exactly what he was seeing.

"Whoa," Raphael enthused at the cityscape. Turning back around to double check, all he could see for miles was nature, the grassy meadow, the trees in the distance.

"Would you take a look at that architecture? Wow!"

Leo didn't notice it until now, but Donatello had a point. Every building looked like a work of art. Grandiose spires, incredible flying buttresses and hundreds of creative shapes made up the city, none of the square boxes that they were used to seeing in New York. Every building almost seemed to defy gravity. As they walked Leo noticed that pedestrians and motorized vehicles moved quickly and efficiently through the streets. There were many vehicles moving about, but never once did he see a traffic jam. He heard his brother marveling on that aspect of this place as well.

"Yeah, Donnie," Raph growled, "it's great, wonderful, amazing, can you drop it now?"

Leo had tuned out long ago, but evidently Don had been giving a running commentary on what they were seeing. He was about to open his mouth in an attempt to prevent an impending fight, but Michelangelo beat him too it.

"Aw, Come on Raphy, you're sounding like Leo. Just let him have his fun."

"Don't call me Raphy."

Evidently, 'sounding like Leo' was more than enough to stop Raph from acting the way he was. Leonardo, meanwhile, was debating whether or not he should be insulted.


	3. Rooms and Work

**A/N: **Ok, Just a small word of warning, there is some Don-speak in this chapter, if you get it, kudos, if you don't then don't worry about it because Leo doesn't get it either and it has to be explained to him eventually.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, I make nothing, I have nothing, I mean no harm, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter 3 - Rooms and Work 

"Hello, Kermit!" One of the crocs called out upon entering a building. The construction was just as amazing on the inside as it was on the out.

"Well, if it isn't the four most beautiful women in all of Lomegraph."

"Aw, Kermie, you flatterer,"

When Kermit came out into the room Michelangelo couldn't help but stare. "Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me!"

The four crocodiles seemed a bit put off by Mikey's outburst and Kermit started to scold him.

"No, not them. They've been great. But, you're a frog!"

"Of course I'm a frog." Kermit agreed with a slight edge to his voice. "What else would I be, young gairen?"

"Uh, we're not gairen, we're turtles. And it's just that… where we're from, there's this Muppet… Come on guys," Mikey appealed to his brothers for assistance, assistance that didn't seem to be forthcoming. He'd gotten himself into this mess; he'd have to get himself out. "Kermit the Frog, come on, you remember the Muppets." Three strange looks were all Mikey got from his brothers, mostly looks of disbelief at what he had just done. "I'm sorry, it just surprised me. We don't have real humanoid animals at home." Mikey finally muttered lamely.

"At least not many," Don corrected.

"Oh, right. 'cuz we're humanoid animals, and so is Master Splinter. And Leatherhead, but I think that's actually all of them. We don't really…OW! Raph, what was that for?"

"You just don't know when to quit, do you, Mikey."

Kermit laughed. "You four aren't from around here, are you? I'd also guess that you're brothers."

"Guilty, on both counts," Leo affirmed.

"Well, let's find you four a place to stay."

"But sir," Leo objected, "we have no way to pay for this."

"Don't worry, young one." One of the crocs assured him, "/You will be able to afford it. Now hurry, shift starts soon. And leave those…things in your room."

"Huh?"

"Those things you have. You cannot bring them into the restaurant. They will get in the way." The gator indicated their weapons.

Kermit led the way up the stairs and opened a door for them.

"I'm afraid all we have available right now are two bedroom units."

"Wow. Would you look at this?" Mikey enthused upon entering the room. It was warm and friendly.

"It is very nice, Kermit, Thank you." At least Leonardo remembered his manners. His brothers were busy gawking at various parts of the unit.

"Now, don't be long. They are waiting for you downstairs." Kermit reminded the Turtles.

"Oh yeah," Don removed his bo staff and tossed it on to one of the beds, of which each bedroom had two. Leo's katana joined Don's bo in the same room and Mikey's 'chucks and Raph's sais were next door.

"This place is sweet!" Raphael looked around in appreciation.

"Don't get too used to it guys, we do have to go home." Leo reminded his enthusiastic brothers.

"There's nothing we can do right now, Leo." Don pointed out. "Come on, let's get back downstairs."

* * *

As they followed the crocodiles down the street Leo noticed that Raphael was fidgeting. 

"Hey Raph, what's wrong."

"I hate this, Leo. I feel naked."

"Well, for all intents and purposes, you are." Donnie supplied. "We all are."

"Not helping. And you know what I meant." Raph snapped at his quiet brother who had interrupted his conversation with Leo.

"Yeah, I know, Raph. I don't like wandering around on the streets in the open without a weapon anymore than you do." Don admitted.

"None of us do." Leo noticed that several people on the streets were staring at them. He didn't know why they stared, but he did know that he didn't like it. The bright sunshine left them no where to hide. No shadows graced the streets, but their alligator hostesses didn't seem to mind in the least.

* * *

The group entered the restaurant, and the four turtles couldn't help but stare. There were all manner of creatures wandering around. Humans, non-humans, frogs, lizards, cats, dogs, caterpillars, butterflies, and a … another turtle were either seated or hurrying around the restaurant. Leo couldn't help but notice that, even though the restaurant was crowded that the three tables surrounding the turtle in the corner were unoccupied. Perhaps that turtle was one of those gairen he had heard about. 

"Oh, I am so glad you're here!" One of the butterflies exclaimed as she hurried over to the alligators. "And it seems you brought help, you'll need it, even if they are gairen."

"Good evening, Christie. Sorry we're late, but these young _turtles_ needed a place to stay before we came in. They're outsiders, Christie, not gairen."

"Ok, yeah, whatever." The butterfly dismissed the information and turned a sharp glare to the turtles. "Just- try and make yourselves useful."

The four alligators donned their aprons and got to work taking orders. The turtles had separated and each followed one alligator around the restaurant. It didn't take long for Megan to decide that Raphael was better suited for a busboy job. She passed him off to Jake and hurried on her way. Jake looked pretty much human, except for the third eye on a stalk coming out of the top of his head. He was what Raph chose to call an interesting individual. As far as he could tell, Jake wasn't a bad guy, but he didn't seem to have all his marbles either.

Alice was working an unusually large table and was glad to have Michelangelo helping her out this evening. She handed him plate after plate, and he kept having a hand for her to put another plate in. It was probably best that she didn't know what he was doing with them. She picked up the last three plates and a drink tray on her own and turned to her assistant. Mikey had a plate on his head, one on each shoulder, one cradled in each elbow and a tray with two plates in each hand. She was thinking that bringing these boys in as servers had been either a stroke of genius or an act of insanity. He seemed to be doing just fine though; it even seemed that he had done this before.

When they reached the table Mikey asked, with a smile clear on his face, who had ordered what and figured out where everything needed to go then, with a quick jerk, 9 plates soared into the air.

"GAH! Michelangelo! No aerial serving!" Alice cried, even as all nine plates landed perfectly in front of their desired target.

"What? Nothing broke and everything is where it belongs, right?" He looked to the customers, who were speechless, for confirmation. They didn't look too happy. "Ok," Mike gave in glumly, "no more flying food."

"You know what?" Alice suggested, noticing Mikey's disheartened state. "Why don't I take you to the kitchen? You can throw all the food you want in there."

"Really? I love cooking!"

"Great. Hey Matt, I got a newbie for you!" Alice shouted.

"Yeah, terrific Alice, just what I need." Matt did not sound terribly enthusiastic about sharing his kitchen with the new guy, especially not a gairen.

"Don't worry yourself. His bark is worse than his bite." Alice assured the apprehensive turtle with a wink.

Leonardo and Donatello were doing quite nicely acting as waitpersons and were even taking a few orders on their own by the end of the evening. Michelangelo had won Matt over, and the pair was having a wonderful time with the flying food in the back. After a while a few of the patrons took notice of the entertainment and watched the food preparation while they were waiting. Raphael even seemed to be getting along quite nicely with Jake. The night shift came in to relieve the afternoon crew and the Turtles headed back to their apartment. Jake was also living in Kermit's complex so he led the way. Leo called a quick practice then they headed to their rooms for a now very well deserved night's sleep.

* * *

"Hey Leo?" Don called quietly after they had settled in for the night. 

"Yeah?"

"Do you have any idea how we're going to get home?"

"Nope. You?" Leo had been surprised by the question. He wasn't sure if Don really had no clue how they might get home or if he was prefacing an idea. Leonardo really hoped that it was the latter.

"Nope. We didn't come through in the same place that Raph and Mike did so I don't think the portals are stationary. There might be an algorithm that we can find to locate the portals, at least to a high probability, based on their last known location, but chaotic systems, like I imagine it would have to be, tend to be highly sensitive to initial conditions and-"

"Donnie," Leo interrupted as he turned to face his brother, "sleep now and worry about it in the morning." He had heard 'I don't think the portals are stationary blah, blah, blah… location … blah, blah, blah' and he didn't want to try translating Don-speak right now, he really just wanted to sleep.

Leo waited until Donnie nodded then returned to a more comfortable sleeping position. He could hear his brother doing the same. A shout and muffled laughing came from the next room and Leonardo chose to ignore it. Shortly, he was sound asleep.


	4. School Daze

A/N: Wow, it's been a while. Well, finals are over, now summer begins! That means I have to do real work now! Actually, it should be fun. Thanks for being so patient. 

Disclaimer: I own… not a whole lot, actually. That 'not a whole lot' certainly doesn't encompass the Turtles or any related character, places or whatnot. I don't get paid and I mean no harm. Please don't sue.

* * *

**Chapter 4 - School Daze**

Donatello was roused the next morning by someone pounding on the door. As aware of his surroundings as Leo was during waking hours it seemed a little strange that he, sometimes, slept like a log. Don was pretty sure that Leo, when he was well and truly asleep, could snooze through a fairly powerful earthquake. He opened the door to the hall at the same time that Mikey opened his.

"Dude, the building could fall in on Raph and he'd never know it." Mikey exclaimed.

"Yeah, Leo too." Don agreed.

"And it sounds like it is falling in, what's going on?"

"I think someone is trying to get our attention. Come on, let's get the door."

Donnie opened the door warily and Mikey was at his back with his 'chucks out. "Yes?" Don found Jake from the restaurant on the welcome mat.

"Hey guys, I've been waiting for clarets!" He pushed his way inside and Mikey stashed his weapons back in his belt. "Hey, where are the other two?"

"They're still in bed." Mikey answered unsurely as Jake wandered around the room taking in all the sights.

"What are they doing in bed ? Seminar starts in three clarets."

Jake received two blank looks.

"Seminar." He repeated as though it was the most obvious thing in the world, and perhaps, for people who grew up here, it was. "Three clarets. Go get your friends." Jake made running motions with his fingers in an attempt to get the turtles to move more quickly. Don went to wake his brothers while Mikey stayed in the main room with Jake.

* * *

Jake led them to the center of town. He hadn't objected to them bringing their weapons and it hadn't been a problem the previous afternoon except inside the restaurant, so the turtles were strapped up. As they neared city center the streets became more crowded but, like the day before, no one was backed up. 

"Can you believe this?" Don asked quietly. "There's no traffic jams. How'd they do that? The traffic flow is just amazing."

Jake led the four turtles into an enormous building placed prominently at the very center of the city, and showed them to a booth inside.

"I already have a schedule, but you four need to get randoms."

"Randoms?" Leo asked, not knowing what a random was. He'd never heard the word used as a noun before.

"Yeah, students who haven't chosen specific classes are given random schedules. Basically, you give your name and the computer generates a list of classes for you. Go on. You don't have much time before first block."

The woman at the booth fed all their names into the computer at once along with some comments about what her assistant had observed while they had waited in the short, almost nonexistent, line. Three schedules quickly came out of the machine,

"Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael…" The woman stated as she handed them their printouts. After a few moments a fourth page came out of the printer. "Donatello." She handed him his schedule too. "Now, hurry boy you have less than a claret to get to class. Also feel free to change to any seminar you are interested in. These schedules are not set in stone." With that she bid them on their way. Not that they knew where they were going.

"Hey, Donnie, looks like you're with me first block." Mikey pointed out, reading over his brother's shoulder.

"Yeah, and Leo and I are together." Raph added.

"Well, might as well start out where we were assigned." Leo suggested. "See you guys later. Good luck." The turtles split into pairs and headed to their seminars.

* * *

"Well, that was about the most boring hour of my life." Michelangelo commented as he walked out of the first seminar with Don. "How many more of those do we have to go through?" The question sounded a lot more like a complaint than an actual question. 

"Four more today," Don replied after consulting his schedule. "Somehow I have a feeling that we have to come back tomorrow though."

Mikey groaned. He didn't want to finish the four seminars left today, much less come back here.

"Aw come on Mike, they can't all be that bad."

"You agree with me?"

"We were memorizing multiplication tables. The same things we did with Splinter when we were six."

"Six? In whose twisted…? oh yeah, you were six when you did that. The rest of us were eight before he gave that to us remember?"

"Leo was seven." Don recalled absently, "But that's not the point. The point is that it we've been able to do that for years." He pushed open the door to the next seminar room and was semi-surprised to see Raph and Leo already seated near the back. Together they made their way up to their brothers.

"How was your first class?" Raph asked sourly.

"We did times tables." Mike replied bitterly. From the tone Raph had used, Mike could tell that his brother had enjoyed the first class as much as he had.

"It can't possibly get worse, can it?" Leo asked from Raph's other side. "We were reading this world's equivalent of See Spot Run."

"Ever notice how in all the places that we go, they always speak English? And here they even write in English. Why do you suppose that is?" Donnie commented from his place on the aisle beside Michelangelo.

The student behind Leonardo tapped his shoulder. "Uh hello, a- are you a gairen?" The being appeared to be about their age and mostly human, though he had a rather impressive shock of bright blue hair that seemed to be its natural color.

"No. We're not from around here." Leo replied

"Really? The young man asked, shocked. "You look just like gairen."

"So we've been told." Raph muttered.

"You look like gairen, but you seem like pretty decent people." The young man continued as he hopped over the chairs and took the seat next to the blue masked turtle.

Leo was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable talking to this person. There was something about the look in the man's eyes that was a little strange and Leo was quite sure that he didn't like it.

"So what are you?" The man asked again, though Leo had missed the question the first time. Raph had ignored the man altogether and Mike and Don were too far away to have a decent conversation with him so Leo found that the responses were all up to him.

"We're turtles."

The young man looked confused by the response. "I don't think I've heard of toitles."

"Turtles." Leo corrected absently. The lecturer had entered the room and Leo was trying to subtly direct the young man's attention to the front of the room and away from him.

"Well, I've enjoyed our little chat, and I do hope we can continue later, but right now lecture's about to start. My name's John by the way."

"Leonardo."

"Leonardo." The man repeated quietly. "That is a very nice name. I like it. Clam hands?"

At this point John offered Leo his hand in what Leo could only interpret as an offer to shake. He reached out and John took his hand in an enthusiastic grip. Leo felt strange and John's hold remained on his hand just a little too long for his liking. This John character was making him a little nervous. When his hand was finally released Leo focused intently on the lecturer before him. The seminar was about the history of a neighboring city. It was rather boring really, in part because Leo had no idea what most of it referred to, but it was infinitely more interesting than reading See Spot Run. He was careful to be attentive to the lecture if for no other reason than to keep John from striking up another conversation.

Leo was relieved when the seminar session finally ended and he could escape from John. The Turtles compared schedules more thoroughly after class. Leo and Don were together in Block 3 while Mike and Raph were each alone. They chose to attend Raph's pottery class together instead of heading separate ways. Block 4 Don and Raph had class together as did Leo and Mike. Block 5 Don was alone while the other three had a class with a name they couldn't decide how to pronounce. It was fairly unanimous that if these classes didn't get more interesting quickly, this was going to be a long day.

"Hey guys," Jack called. "So what else do you have today?"

The turtles explained their schedules and asked about that last class of the day.

"Oh, kvilethiacianux is kind of a self-defense. They teach you how to use pepper spray and stuff like that"

Three of the turtles groaned and Don very seriously considered going to whatever that course he had been assigned was.


	5. School Daze Part II

**Disclaimer:** I own, am paid and claim nothing. I also mean no harm. Please don't sue.

* * *

**Chapter 5** - School Daze Part 2 

"Tell me again why you get out of the pepper spray class." Raph complained.

"It wasn't assigned to me and I figure that whatever this course I'm supposed to go to is can't be any worse."

"What's it called?"

"I don't know. It just has a number." Don admitted.

"You have fun, Donnie." Raph said in parting. "I'm going to go learn about the wonders of pepper spray."

Don laughed. "You know I am just heartbroken that I have to miss that one." He quipped.

"I'm sure you are. Later, Donnie." With that Raph disappeared into the sea of people in the halls.

* * *

Don pulled open the door that corresponded to the room on his schedule. However, it didn't lead to the lecture hall he had predicted. It was too small for one, and the lights were off. All in all, it wasn't what he had been expecting. _Hmm… that pepper spray class isn't sounding half bad right now. What's going on here?_ He pushed the door shut again and turned to leave. 

"Donatello?"

The startled turtle whipped around, at the unfamiliar voice. He assumed a low defensive stance, but left his bo strapped to his back. Don was clueless as to how this person got there, and the fact that he hadn't noticed the new arrival made him very nervous indeed.

"Wow, you do look like a gairen. They told me so, but I didn't believe them"

"I'm not a gairen. I am a turtle." Don corrected without releasing from his ready stance.

"That's great. We like outsiders coming into our program. You are welcome here, you know? You do not have to stand like that." The strange arrival informed him.

"I think that **_I_** will be the judge of that." Don didn't relax his posture in the slightest.

"We mean you no harm. All we wish to do is create a more interesting schedule for you. Come along, Friend."

Donatello warily followed the person out of the room. He was led down a deserted hallway and into a room that had to have broken records for the most yellow in one place at one time. Everything was yellow, the walls, the floor, the consoles, the pod, the ceiling… The pod? Don shook his head and looked again. Sure enough, a yellow pod stood in the very center of the room. As this B horror movie in a very chipper color progressed, the pepper spray class continued to sound more and more appealing.

The man stood behind a console in the room and gestured for Donatello to enter the pod. As he approached he noticed a definite drop in the temperature of the room. Whatever was in that pod was going to be very cold, and he didn't really want to be cold. With as chilly as it was where he stood, inside the pod had to be no warmer than the freezing point of water, and probably colder than that.

"How long am I expected to stay in this thing?" Don asked.

"One claret should be enough."

From what Donnie had been able to determine during the day, a claret was about 15 minutes. That was too long.

"Is something wrong?" The man asked noticing Donatello's hesitation.

"No." Don responded quickly, "I mean, yes. I am concerned about the temperature." He admitted. That wasn't the whole story. This was beyond creepy, and Donnie sincerely did not want to get in the pod. In short he didn't trust this guy as far as he could throw… that yellow console he stood in front of.

"Not to worry, young one. It is only a short time, and the heat your body produces should be more than enough to compensate for the chill in the container."

Don had been afraid he would say something like that. "Man, it sucks being cold blooded." He murmured, reiterating what Mikey had once said. When he got a blank stare from the man he was forced to continue. He hadn't meant for that to be overheard, but it was too late now. "My body temperature is regulated by my surroundings more than by internal processes."

"You're what?" The man looked shocked at this revelation. "You're a dead one?"

"What? No! No, I'm alive. I mean I'm here talking to you, right?" That didn't have the effect he'd hoped it would and he began to wonder what a 'dead one' was. Where I'm from there are two typed of animals. Warm blooded animals mostly make their own heat while cold blooded animals, like me, mostly get it from their surroundings. I'm not dead."

"You don't make your own heat, and yet you are not dead. This does not make sense."

Don just shrugged, how do you explain something like this to a world that has no such thing? "I hatched that way." He noticed the confusion at the word 'hatched' and somehow he wasn't entirely surprised. Noticing the sour look on the person's face, he wondered if maybe he should have chosen another word.

"Well, then it becomes that much more important for you to enter the pod." The man's tone turned dangerous.

"Why? I'm ok with the schedule I have, really, I don't mind it at all." Don started backing away.

"No!" the man snapped, "If you do not get in the pod we will be forced to hunt down you and your family. Dead ones cannot be allowed in our fair city. If you do not get in the pod then you obviously are dead."

This was getting weird, and Don didn't see a way to get out of this. He certainly didn't see a way without trouble that he could ill afford right now. There were several messy options available to him, but he had a feeling that none of them were intelligent options. Reluctantly, he agreed to get in the pod on the condition that there would be a warm place he could go afterward.

"Of course," the man agreed immediately. "All who are put through this test require a shower when it is over."

Don liked this less and less, but he stepped into the pod. "There, now what?"

"Now, just stand there, let the pod do the rest."

Don watched in shock as a thick goo, yellow like everything else in room of course, started to be pumped into the pod. The level rose slowly and it was bitter cold. It wasn't long before he was forced to dip into his ninjitsu to push the chilled sensation out of his mind. He watched in mild concern as the fluid level continued to rise past his waist. It continued to creep its way upward. "So, how high is this going to get?" He was kicking himself for not asking the question earlier.

"As soon as you are completely submerged we can lower the fluid level."

That wasn't exactly what he wanted to hear, but he could think of worse things. It was getting a little difficult to breathe in the cold and he delved deeper to force the chill away. He couldn't go too far or he risked inhaling the goo, and that just wouldn't do. It reached his neck and slowly covered his face. He took a deep breath at the last moment and waited for the goo to drop. He felt it completely cover his head and, as promised, it immediately started to go down. Thankfully, it drained much more quickly than it rose.

Don was out of the pod as soon as the door had been opened, and he was freezing. The man smiled at the turtle-cicle that stood before him and pointed toward the shower. Donnie was gone almost before the man finished the gesture. He turned the water on as hot as he could stand and tried to wash away the disgusting goo. As he slowly increased the water temperature, he was rather annoyed to notice that not all the yellow was coming off of him. If he'd known disgusting goo would have been involved, he would have taken off his mask and pads. He wrung them out in the shower and was pleased to see the yellow finally fading away. Too bad it was still all over his skin. _Leo's going to notice that something's…_ Don didn't even notice that his train of thought had halted. He just concentrated on getting the yellow off of everything. His brothers never even crossed his mind as he finished his shower and the man explained the schedule he would have the next day.

* * *

Heh, I guess I should probably let Chibi loose now, eh? (eyes turn black and Chibi is returned upright to the floor) Hi! (Chibi glares) heh, uh, truce? 

In addition, I am not a biologist. In fact part of my incentive for getting into physics was that I didn't have to take biology, also I am not a person who should be allowed in a chem. lab when you consider my track record with liquids. That being said, sorry if I got anything wrong.


	6. The Goo's Aftermath

Curious as to what took me so long to update? I was waiting for my new computer to come in because my old one ticked me off for the last time. Then I had to set it up and transfer everything. New computer, new word processor because I am too poor to buy Office SBE, though I may transfer it from my hanging-onto-it's-little-life-by-a-thread compy in a few days, because this file conversion thing is annoying. Seems like this is an otherwise decent program though. It's actually becoming strange to come home from work where I run Linux all day to a Windows machine.

* * *

**Disclaimer: **In no way do I own the turtles. That's the long and short of it. They belong to people much more creative than I am. I don't get paid for this either, darn. And I mean no harm. Please don't sue. 

**Chapter 6 - The Goo's Aftermath**

"I can't believe we actually just did that." Mikey stated in disbelief. "I mean it was kind of insulting."

"Well, think of it this way, Mikey, now you know what they'll try here." Leo offered.

"Yep, they'll try to spray crap in your face without being the least bit subtle about it. Ya think they even have martial arts here?" Raph asked, shaking his head.

"They had a name for pulling out pepper spray!" Mikey reminded him, a little louder than was probably absolutely necessary.

"Right," they walked in silence for a moment.

Michelangelo suddenly spotted Donatello and called out across the room for him. The purple masked turtle didn't respond and Mikey found that to be rather odd. "Earth to Donnie!" Mikey called as he hurried to catch up to his brother with Raph and Leo in his wake. "Yo, Donnie!" Nothing worked. When he got close enough Mikey reached out and grabbed Don by the shoulder. "Hey, Donnie, you in there?" It was only after he spoke that he noticed how cold his brother was. He pulled his hand away quickly. "You ok, Don?"

Don turned around but didn't answer right away. Instead he just stood there and blinked at them for a moment as if searching his memory for something. "Mikey?"

"Yeah, you ok?" Mikey asked, though he knew his brother was too cold and probably suffering from that. He was pretty sure, however, that they had been colder before and wondered if there wasn't something else going on here.

"Huh?" Don hadn't been paying attention. "Oh, um, yeah. Ok." He didn't even notice that his brothers were entirely unconvinced.

Leo noticed that Don looked a little pale. No, he looked a lot pale. "Donnie, are you sure you're feeling alright?" Leo put the back of his hand on Don's forehead and was surprised at how cold his brother was. Donatello felt cold, but not enough to explain why he was so out of it, but they could solve that mystery later. "Shell, Donnie. You're freezing! Come on, we have to get you home."

"I'm cold? Funny, I don't feel cold." Don mumbled as Leo grabbed his hand.

That wasn't good. Leo, with the assistance of a now worried Raph and Mike, pulled his brother out of the lecture building and away from City Center. Leo wished that the outside temperature was warmer, but he couldn't change the weather. The heavy cloud cover and light drizzle wasn't really helping matters. Hurrying along the streets to the apartment they had been offered for the time they were in this place the turtles made it back in half the time the morning trip had taken.

They rushed up to their little apartment and Mikey, who had been the first through the door since Raph and Leo were helping Don, raced to the bathroom and got the shower running.

"Ok, Donnie," Leo said as he and Raph led their purple masked brother to the bath tub, "we're going to give you a little shower now to warm you up, ok?"

"Not cold. 'm ok."

"Get in there, Donnie!" Raph ordered.

Don separated from his brothers and seemed to make the attempt to obey the order, but his body had other ideas. Michelangelo caught him as he started to fall and hauled him into the shower. Donatello was warmer now than he had been, as a result of running through the city, but he was still colder than he should be. Mikey hadn't been prepared for Don's howl of pain and had nearly dropped his brother as a result.

"Cool it off! Cool it off!" Mike shouted over Don's cries. He couldn't reach the faucet without dropping Don, but he did his best to shield his brother from the water. Raph stepped in and cooled the water until Don stopped screaming. Then, slowly, he warmed it up again.

They heard pounding on the door. Glancing among themselves it was quickly decided that Leo was the driest of the four of them and as loath as he was to leave his brothers, someone did have to answer the door. "Just a minute" Leo shouted. Before he answered the door he threw a pot of water on what passed for a stove. The pounding came again. "I'm coming!"

The blue masked turtle opened the door to find Kermit on the other side. "Uh, hi." Leo was nervous and it must have shown.

"Good afternoon… Leonardo?"

"Yes."

"Is everything alright up here? I received some complaints about screaming."

"Sorry. We didn't mean to disturb anyone. It won't happen again." Leo was trying to hurry Kermit out so he could get back to his brothers and didn't realize just how suspicious he was looking at the moment.

"Screaming is one of those things that I am required to investigate." Kermit informed him gently.

"Oh. Uh, well, we don't handle cold very well and one of my brothers got chilled today. In our haste to warm him up we accidentally turned the shower on too hot and it hurt him. I apologize for the disturbance, but I really need to get back to him." Leo didn't like the look he got from Kermit.

"You boys said you were not gairen." Kermit spoke in a menacing tone that worried Leo a great deal.

"We're not. We're turtles."

"Yet you react poorly to the cold, as gairen do."

"I have no idea what these gairen are, or why you dislike them so, but I assure you, we are not from this place. We are turtles, not gairen." Leo reiterated.

"I had better not find out that you boys are dead ones." Kermit warned icily.

"We're alive." Leo responded confidently. He noticed the thoughtful expression come over Kermit's face.

"You said that your brother is cold?" At Leo's nod the frog continued. "If that is the case, it is possible that they 'tested' him." Kermit's demeanor had changed considerably in the past few seconds. A 180 that left Leo slightly confused.

"What do you mean 'tested'?" He didn't like the sound of it.

"This brother, the one who is ill, wouldn't happen to be the one who was so awestruck by the architecture when you four came into town."

"Yeah, it is, but how did you…"Leo was stumped, and he didn't like what he was hearing.

"Alison told me about it earlier today. If that is the case he may have been tested by the engineers."

"What?"

"It's a process. I've had tenants in the past who have gone through that. They say it's cold, but they have never been adversely affected as you claim your brother has. If he was tested and is still alive then he was deemed not to be a threat. He is living, so by extension you three probably are too. Tested tenants never stay much longer."

"What did they do to my brother?" Leo demanded. A stray thought of _good thing Raph didn't answer the door_, drifted through his mind. As it was, he was losing his patience with Kermit's cryptic responses.

"They tested him. They tested his mind to see if he would be a worthy addition to the engineering community. Only the best are accepted."

"Well, Don's pretty good at that sort of stuff. It might be nice for him to be able to share his ideas with someone who understands for a change, but what did they do to him that made him so cold? From the way he's acting he's… I think something else was done to him." Leo's tone took on the quality that he used when he was forcing his emotions under the surface.

Kermit looked at the young, naïve turtle oddly for a few moments, but answered the boy's questions to the best of his ability.

"They talk about cold, yellow fluid, though no one has ever told me what the stuff is. I know very little beyond that."

Leonardo could plainly hear the apprehension in Kermit's voice and he wondered as to its cause. "You sound unsure of something." Leo wondered if he really wanted to know when the frog's shoulders slumped.

"Those who are tested rarely stay here for much longer. They change, become totally and utterly absorbed in their work. I do not know where they go, but I would not be surprised to find that they just live in their little cubicles. Nice kids a lot of them, and they just disappear. I see them in the halls at lecture occasionally, but they're different, harsher."

"Donnie would never…"

"No Leonardo, you are not listening to me. That stuff, whatever it is… it changes them. I would not be the least bit surprised if, when your brother gets warm, he is no longer the person you once knew." Kermit looked at the floor for a moment, and wondered if he had shared too much with this young boy. "Perhaps your unique physiology will be his saving grace. I shall leave you to attend to your family."

"Wait, Kermit! Is there a way for us to contact the restaurant? Don obviously can't go in tonight, and one of us needs to stay with him. I'd like to, if that is possible."

"I will contact them and inform them that only two of you will be coming in tonight. There are some puteka packets in the cupboard. Boil some water and put one of the packets in it and let it sit for a quarter claret before taking the packet out. I don't know how much it will help, but it is worth a try."

With that, Kermit let himself out and closed the door behind him, leaving a perplexed Leonardo in his wake. _What kind of place is this?_


	7. Meditation, Puteka and Dirty Spoons

Ok, I was none too fond of the word processor my computer came with. Since I'm still to cheap to spring for Word, so it's time to try a new one.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Turtles or any associated characters. I don't get paid for this and I mean no harm. Please don't sue. 

**Chapter 7 - Meditation, Puteka, and Dirty Spoons**

By the time Leo had the puteka ready Raph and Mikey were helping Don to his bed. He had been warmed in the shower but was still out of it. Leonardo knew that it had to have something to do with that yellow goo.

"Here, Donnie, drink this." Leo ordered gently.

Don didn't object, but rather robotically took the cup from his brother and did as he was told. The foursome in the room was silent as Donnie obediently downed the puteka. When finished, he seemed marginally more alert but was still acting strangely. Michelangelo had just finished replacing the dressing on Don's leg from its run in with the katana when Leo spoke.

"Raph, Mikey, they're still expecting you at the restaurant this afternoon. Kermit called them and said Don and I won't be there."

"Hey, how come you get to stay here with him?" Raph objected.

"Raph, please don't do this. I want to try something before whatever this is settles too much."

Raphael understood what Leo had in mind, but he still didn't like that he and Mike had to leave. He wanted to stay too. "Come on, Mikey." Raph grouched, though his voice was laced with resignation. Nothing more was said as the red and orange masked turtles left the room.

Leo sat on the edge of his bed and studied his brother. Don still looked too pale. He had curled up on his side under the blankets, but he didn't seem ready to sleep. "Donnie, you should try to go to sleep."

"I'm not tired."

This annoyed Leo slightly. He had had enough of Don insisting that he was fine when he so obviously wasn't. It was strange. If given options, Don would object, but he hadn't yet objected to anything that came across as an order. Finally, and idea struck him.

"Alright, if you're fine then come here." Leo got off the bed and sat in a lotus position on the floor.

Don just looked questioningly at his brother.

"Hey, you're the one who said you're fine. Now, off the bed. Bring a blanket, but get on this floor." Leo ordered.

Don obeyed. He grabbed a blanket, wrapped it around himself and sat on the floor, also in lotus position, facing his blue masked brother.

Leonardo knew that Don's chi was all out of whack. Mike and Raph had probably noticed it too. Usually, Splinter did this sort of thing, but he wasn't here so Leo did what he felt he had to do. He started leading Don through some meditation exercises to help refocus his chi. Leo only hoped it was enough.

After a while, Leo left Donnie to his meditation and went to the kitchen. Eventually, he decided to heat up more water for the puteka Kermit had suggested. He was just about to remove the packet from the cup when he noticed Donnie standing in the doorway with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders.

"Hey, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be meditating, Donnie."

"Leo, that was over an hour ago!" Don complained.

Well, he certainly sounded like the Donnie Leo knew. "Really?" Leo looked around for a clock and only found one marked in clarets, which didn't help him much. "Oh, sorry." Leo hadn't realized that much time had passed. It wasn't really like Don to meditate for that long, he was good for about a half hour or so when he had to, but almost never went longer than that.

"No, Leo. Thank you. I needed that."

Leo pushed the puteka across the table to his brother and poured another cup of hot water for himself. Out of curiosity, he tossed in one of the puteka packets.

Catching the sliding drink, Don eyed it skeptically. He had no idea what it was, and it smelled strange. Not entirely sure he wanted to drink it, he looked questioningly at his brother. Evidently, Leo caught it, because he answered the unspoken question.

"It's puteka. Kermit said it might help. I think it's kind of like tea."

Don nodded and took a careful sip of the hot drink. It tasted pretty much like it smelled, and he didn't like it at all. He put the cup back on the table with a grimace. "Must be an acquired taste." He commented.

"You drank it earlier without complaint." Leo informed his brother.

"I did? Well, if you told me to then I wouldn't be surprised. If you had told me to put on a grass skirt and do the hula I probably would have done it." Don murmured the last part, not really meaning for his brother to hear.

Leo caught it, but let it slide, it obviously wasn't meant for his ears. He'd ask later as he really wanted to know what Don had been through, but he could tell that his brother was quickly dropping on him.

Donatello caught himself as he nearly fell asleep on the table. He jerked his head up. Glancing at the cup in front of him, he noticed that it was still about half full. This puteka stuff tasted awful and Don didn't really want to finish it, but Leo was watching him and he knew he wasn't getting away until he did so. Holding his breath, Donnie chugged the rest of the puteka. He made a face, left the cup on the table and, with a mumbled promise to wash it later, went back to bed.

* * *

Raphael's mind was far away as he gathered dinnerware. Jake had noticed about the time Raph dropped a handful of dirty silverware into the clean silverware container. 

"Raph! What are you doing? Now we have to wash all those again!" Jake cried in dismay, shocking the red masked turtle back to the present.

Looking down at what he had just done, Raphael realized that he had to pay a lot more attention to what he was doing. He could usually focus better than this, but didn't normally have to in a non-life threatening situation when a member of his family was hurt or sick. "Oh shell, I'm really sorry, Jake. I didn't mean to do that." Raph said sadly. He could feel three eyes on him, and realized that he still hadn't quite adjusted to that eyestalk on the top of Jake's head.

"You ok, man?" Jake asked as he cleared the rest of the table Raph had been working on.

Raphael explained the events following the school day.

"Donnie? Isn't he the one who was so awed by the lack of traffic jams?"

"Yeah, that's him." Raph wondered if there was something more to Jake's question, but when Jake didn't offer anymore, Raphael didn't push things, not tonight. He just wanted this over so he could go home.

Jake had just left for another part of the restaurant when Raph heard a cry of pain from Mikey in the kitchen. Apparently, his usually cheerful brother was taking to this situation just as poorly as he was. As Raphael finished the table he was working on, Lindsey approached him.

"You know Raphael, you and Michelangelo should probably go home to your brother." she advised. "Alice told us that Kermit called in earlier to say that you all had been worried about him."

"I'm sorry about the mess."

"Oh, don't worry about it. I am worried about you and Michelangelo. You two are pretty out of it tonight and I don't want you getting hurt."

"I can usually focus better than this." Raph mumbled under his breath.

"It's ok, you're worried. Why don't you two go home for the day? Come back tomorrow if your brother is better. Alright?"

Raphael nodded reluctantly. Megan was leading Michelangelo from the kitchen, he had some gauze wrapped around his forearm and looked miserable. Together, the two turtles left the restaurant and went home.


	8. New Classes

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. I am paid nothing. I am nothing. I mean no harm. Please don't sue me.

* * *

**Chapter 8 - The One with New Classes**

Donatello sat in the lecture hall. All around him people were paying rapt attention to the board in front of them. He found this a little strange as the lecturer hadn't even arrived yet. Yesterday, people had been chatting and having a good time prior to the lecturer's arrival. This was very different. He carefully scanned the room while trying to look like he was focused on the board in front of him. After what the yellow goo had done to him the day before, he wasn't sure if all these people were really in their right minds. If he had to guess, he would say that they were under the same sort of control he had been under the previous afternoon. He forced back a sigh and focused intently on the front of the room, taking care to act like everyone else.

Reaching out with his ninjutsu skills he could feel a pair of eyes on him, Don carefully searched the room one more time. On this search he made eye contact with another student, a girl on the far side of the room. He noticed that as soon as he did so, her attention darted back to the board. Maybe he wasn't the only one in here who had his own will. Either that, or he had just been caught. He really hoped it was the former. He'd have to try and talk to her later. Another set of eyes on him made him nervous, but he focused on the board and continued to do so through the entire seminar.

Donatello stood at the end of class with everyone else and went out the door with everyone else. He took special care to act just like the beings around him. The last thing he wanted was another run in with that yellow goo. He was surprised to feel a gentle tap on his shoulder.

"Don't turn around, they'll notice."

"Who are you?" Don asked quietly.

"We have about a half claret. At the next corridor, slip out of the group and meet me in the classroom at the end. Nothing is there next block and it should be empty."

"Ok."

At the next corridor, Don shifted out of the crowd with the stealth of the ninja he was. He moved silently down the hall and found the classroom at the end. Behind the door he found what he thought of, from things he had seen on TV, as a traditional classroom with small desks filling most of the space. On the table at the front of the room sat the girl from the previous class and a young man that Don didn't recognize but had a feeling belonged to the second set of eyes he had sensed.

"I'm telling you, this is a bad idea." The man insisted quietly to his companion. Don didn't think it was something he was meant to hear so he pretended he hadn't. Given how he felt about this place he didn't much blame the guy for thinking that way.

"You're not like the rest." The girl stated frankly.

Don didn't respond to her comment.

"You are either one of them, or you are separate from them." She added.

"I am not one of them. I only just arrived here the other day." Don informed.

"You were tested yesterday!" The man insisted. "Cora, we should not be talking to him. He could give up our cover."

"If he is one of us, we have to know, Miguel. We have to take the risk!"

Don felt like he was watching Leo and Raph. He took a seat in one of the desks and just let them bicker for a while. Finally, the one called Miguel turned to him.

"How did you get past the testing?" The man snapped.

Don was slightly taken aback by his tone, but didn't let it show. "Help from my family." He answered simply. It was true enough and didn't give away more than he was willing to give at this point.

"Most want an engineer in their family." Miguel insisted. "What makes yours so different?"

"You have no idea," Don muttered under his breath before answering the question aloud. "I am afraid that I do not know what you are talking about."

"Didn't you hear him?" Cora inquired of her companion. "He said he's not from around here."

"I don't trust him, Cora." Miguel insisted.

"Is there some reason that I should trust you?" Don asked suddenly.

"What?" Miguel snapped, returning his attention to the turtle.

"Why," Don repeated more slowly, "should I trust you, how am I to know that you aren't going to stick me in that yellow junk again?" He suppressed a shudder at the thought of being, once again, immersed in the cold goo.

Cora looked at Miguel with an 'I told you so' expression and Miguel looked away knowing that she was correct.

Donatello had apparently said something right; he just didn't know what it was. He warily eyed the pair before him.

Miguel sighed. "I guess there really is no reason for you to trust us. They probably pulled you aside just like we have, didn't they."

Don just nodded. There was silence for a moment before Cora spoke.

"Well, we haven't exactly been polite. My name if Cora Crossfeld and this is Miguel Lopez."

"Donatello." He caught them waiting for a second name. "Uh, I don't really have a surname, but... Hamato will suffice if you require one."

"That's quite the mouthful." Miguel quipped quietly to Cora who shushed him. Don just shrugged. It was a strange combination of names on Earth too.

"You can call me Don."

"Ok, Don." Miguel started. "We have to get back to class soon or someone will notice that we're not there."

"Do you have any questions?" Cora asked quickly.

He didn't know where to start. Several questions flashed through his mind in a matter of seconds. _What was the goo? Why me? Why do the engineers do this? What exactly do you mean by 'engineer'? Why don't you have traffic jams? What did you mean by 'one of them'? Who is 'them'? What is so troublesome about the gairen?_ He decided to go with one that might get him out of this crazy world sooner rather than later. "Yes, do you have chaos theory here?"

That wasn't a question they had been expecting. "Chaos? Yeah, it's not taught in engineering though. I think there's a seminar fourth block, but you need to stay in the department or they will get suspicious." Cora answered. They were coming up on the larger group of students so she kept her voice low.

"Yesterday, they said we could choose classes." Don objected quietly.

"Yesterday, you had a random. And you weren't part of the engineering program yet. Now you are, and if you don't go to your assigned lecture they will notice and put you in the goo again." Miguel insisted.

Don nodded, but internally shuddered at the thought of the yellow goo. He knew that he didn't have a good enough understanding of those portals to get home and he had hoped that a chaos seminar could answer some of his questions, but that was looking like it was entirely out of the picture at this point. He sighed and entered the classroom behind Cora and Miguel. He took the seat next to Miguel and carefully turned his undivided attention to the board at the front of the room, even though the lecturer wasn't there yet. It was moments like this that he was glad for his ninja training. He could focus on this board all day long if he had to, and it looked like he had to.

As soon as class let out, Donatello slipped away from the group again and ran off in search of his brothers.

* * *

"I'm telling you, that John guy is crazy!" Leo insisted. 

"Aw, Come on Leo." Mike chided. "He can't be that bad."

"Trust me, he is that bad. He kept bumping me."

"Leo, he was in the seat next to you. You telling me that Mike never once touched you during that whole lecture?" Raph demanded.

Leo sighed in defeat. They were probably right, he was just being overly cautious. John had just been shifting in his seat.

"Hey, guys."

Raphael, Michelangelo and Leonardo whipped around to find Donatello hiding in a shadow.

"Yo…"

"Shh… They can't know I'm here. I'll get in trouble. Keep acting like you're talking amongst yourselves." Donatello warned quietly so that only his brothers could hear him.

Three confused turtles did as they were told, not questioning Don's actions. There would be questions later, but now was obviously not the time for them.

"I can't go, but you can. There is a seminar on chaos theory during fourth block. You have to go to it. Try to take notes or something. See if you can get anything out of it. It might be our only shot of getting home." Don glanced at the clock on the wall. He was gone as quickly as he came.

"Ok." Mikey ventured. "What was that all about?"

"I think we just found a new fourth block class." Leo responded. "He sounded pretty serious."

"You don't really think we're going to get anything out of it, do you?" Raph asked incredulously. "I mean, do you even know what chaos theory is?"

"Guys, we have to try. Come on, we're going to be late for pottery."

* * *

A/N: I just know I'm opening a can of worms with this one. I just know it. 


	9. Clay and Chaos

**Disclaimer:** If you still think that I own the Turtles or any associated characters then you are wrong. The same state of being applies if you think I'm getting paid for this. Also I mean no harm. Please don't sue.

* * *

**Chapter 9 - Clay and Chaos**

"You wanna tell me why we're here again?" Raph asked as he set two small containers of glaze on the table.

"I thought you enjoyed this class yesterday." Leo objected.

"No," Raph corrected him. "That was Mikey."

"Hey, how can you not enjoy this? Yesterday was playing in the dirt, and today we get to paint!" Mikey poured a dollop of orange glaze onto a palette and picked out one of the larger brushes to attack his vase with. "Well, except you, Leo. You play in the dirt today."

"Well, someone enjoyed it." Leo plopped some clay down on his pottery wheel. The teacher scowled at him for the inordinate amount of force he used in doing so. He grinned sheepishly as the man walked by. "It's better than what was listed on my schedule."

"I'll give you that." Raph agreed, recalling the 'literature' lesson from the previous day. He turned his attention back to the bowl in front of him when he caught a disapproving glare from the teacher.

The rest of the class was spent in near silence while Raphael and Michelangelo carefully painted their pieces and Leonardo worked on shaping the clay into what looked like a half decent cup.

"Might as well make something useful, right?" Leo defended himself at the odd look Mikey gave his piece just before class ended.

"You're a real kill-joy, you know that?" Mike responded with a smile, not caring that Leo had just insulted his flower vase. They left their work in the room for firing overnight and headed out to the next class.

* * *

Up to now, no one had taken much notice of the Turtles when they went into their classes, once they were sure that they weren't gairen that is. This one was different. 

"Leo, why is everyone staring?" Raphael asked quietly.

"I don't know. Just act like everything is normal." Leonardo responded under his breath.

The three turtles took a seat near the back door of the room.

The lecturer, a strange and very crimson tripedal being, seemed nervous as he put all sorts of information up on the board and projected yet more on the walls. Leo wrote down everything on the board and thanked whatever powers that be for the handouts the teacher gave.

"Are you getting any of this?" Raphael asked quietly after noticing Leo's frantic note taking.

"No. You?"

"I was lost by the end of the first sentence." Raph responded quickly.

"Guys, the concept isn't that tough." Mike told his brothers, he was about to go into more detail when he caught a look from the lecturer and quickly shut up. Leonardo and Raphael shared astonished looks before Leo went back to his mad note taking. He didn't understand them, but Don might be able to make something of it.

* * *

When class was over, the lecturer called them to the front of the room. 

"Which one of you is Donatello?" He asked much to Raph, Leo and Mikey's astonishment.

"He's somewhere else. I don't know what class he was assigned." Leo responded warily.

The answer seemed to be exactly what the lecturer wanted to hear. He let out a breath that he might have been holding for the entire class.

"Oh, ok. Well, thank you for attending." The tripod started to hurry away, but Raphael stopped him.

"Wait! Why did you want to know about Donnie?"

"Your friend-"

"Brother." Raph corrected.

The tripod blinked a few times, as if taking in the new information. "Your brother has been accepted into the engineering department. They are very particular, and… I shouldn't be telling you this." The being shut up and tried to leave again only to turn around and find Leonardo in his path.

"You have already started, please continue. We need to know what they're doing to Don." Leo begged.

The tripod just looked at Leo with a surprised expression on its face. It checked behind itself to see Raph and Mikey had also moved. They now had him triangled in. It was pretty apparent that they weren't going to let him go anywhere until after they had some answers. Also, the three pronged things in the red-masked turtle's belt looked pretty intimidating.

With a sigh, the red tripod started speaking again. "The engineers, they are very particular about those they accept into their program."

"Yes. That much, we have heard." Raphael snipped. He smirked a little when the tripod cringed.

"Yes, yes, well." The turtles had flustered the poor tripedal being and he was having a little trouble getting the whole sentence out. Especially since he was pretty sure they weren't going to like what he had to say. All he could do was hope that they didn't kill the messenger. He had heard that these creatures were not the gairen they appeared to be, but their presence was just as intimidating if not more so. "They are also possessive of those they allow in. They don't want them working on anything else, working with anyone else, or even associating with anyone else. Often they are pulled away from their families over the course of their first year in the program."

"We'd better not be here that long then." Leo responded, more to himself and his family than to the chaos teacher.

"They control their minds, there's nothing you can do. He's theirs now!" The tripod sounded sorry, but insistent. It was as if he had lost someone to the fate he expected Don to find. "That's always what happens. It doesn't matter how hard they fight against it! They have that goo. The microbes that make it up control the mind and the engineers control the microbes. There is no escape and nothing you can do, nothing that anyone has ever been able to do."

"They haven't messed with us before." Leo's voice was barely more than a whisper, but it had quite an effect on the tripod. The thing almost looked hopeful.

"Well, for your sake, and for the sake of everyone who has ever lost a family member to the engineers, I do hope that you are correct."

Leo nodded and stepped aside, allowing the tripedal being to leave. He then turned to his brothers "Well, only one class left, right?"

"Yup, our favorite one," Raph grouched, "kvilethiacianux"

They started to leave the lecture hall, when Raph remembered a comment Mikey had made.

"What did you mean by 'the concept isn't that tough'? Chaos is bizarre, Mikey!" Raph demanded of his brother.

Mikey shook his head. "The idea is totally simple! There's random and there's chaos. Random has no order. Chaos seems random, but it's not. Its structure just isn't in the first place you'd look for it."

Raph and Leo could only stare at their brother for a moment, shocked. This was Mikey, right?

"So, how do you find that structure? And is it enough to get us home?" Leo finally asked.

Mikey just shrugged. "How should I know? All I said was that the concept isn't tough. I never said I understood anything else." He left two still surprised brothers in his wake as he made his way down the hall to kvilethiacianux.


	10. Kvilethiacianux

**A/N: **It's official people. If I drop off the face of the planet for a month, it's 'cuz I am helping launch a rocket and traveling the continent (and eventually ocean). If I don't drop off the face of the planet, it means I have good Internet access.

* * *

**Chapter 10 - Kvilethiacianux**

Raphael stood beside Michelangelo in kvilethiacianux. The teacher, he couldn't bring himself to call her a sensei because this was pathetic and he had no respect for her, was going through the various sprays on the market and what the advantages and disadvantages to each one were. They used water when they sprayed each other, so as not to cause discomfort in class. When she was finished explaining the sprays for the day, she went into explaining a 'typical' attack. Raph couldn't help but roll his eyes, which earned him a glare from the teacher.

"Now, in a real attack situation, usually your attacker will not verbally warn you as to his knowledge of kvilethiacianux."

"Ya think? He'd probably be embarrassed to admit it." Raph commented snidely to Michelangelo, who stifled a giggle. The comment earned the red masked turtle a shushing from Leo and another glare from the teacher.

"He will simply act. You need to be ready for this type of situation as well." The instructor continued.

"No freakin' kidding." This time Mike did a slightly better job of stifling his reaction to Raph's comment.

"Raphael, knock it off." Leo warned under his breath without looking away from the teacher. He, however, didn't miss the obscene gesture he received from Raph in response.

"For this reason, spray should always be kept close at hand where it can be reached quickly." The teacher demonstrated a quick draw and spray technique. Raph's snort did not go unnoticed and she had had enough of the turtle's attitude. She felt it time to put him in his place. "Raphael." She called out. "Do you wish to be part of a demonstration?"

"Sure." Raph agreed wholeheartedly.

"Raphael, you hurt her and you will regret it." Leo warned such that only Raph could hear.

"Don't worry, Leo. I know what I'm doing."

The statement was not comforting to the blue-masked turtle, but he was fairly sure that, at least, Raph wouldn't hurt her.

"Ok, Raphael." There was annoyance in the teacher's voice. "I am going to attack you, and you will have no warning." She handed him a spray bottle.

"Just one second." Raph interrupted. He jogged over to Mike and handed his sais to his brother. He ran back to the front of the room and gently placed the spray bottle on the table before facing the teacher. Raph adopted a nonchalant body posture and had his arms crossed in front of his plastron. "Alright"

"Raphael, you have no weapon."

"And there is no honor in attacking an unarmed opponent." Raph stated calmly. He could see Leo shaking his head in the audience and ignored his brother.

"You have no way to defend yourself." The teacher warned him. "Go get your weapon"

"Trust me, lady, I have weapon enough."

The class laughed at the absurdity of his statement, but Raphael didn't care. He had seen her draw.

"I am going to attack you."

"You will be down before you even reach your precious spray." Raph brushed some nonexistent dirt off his shoulder then started to inspect the finger nails on his left hand.

The teacher lunged at him and… fell. At least that was what it had looked like to every non-turtle present. Raphael still stood inspecting his fingers. Leo and Mike had both easily recognized the technique their brother had just employed to floor his opponent but to the uninitiated it appeared that the teacher had merely tripped over her own two feet.

"Mental powers," the teacher breathed in surprise.

"Hardly," Raph objected as he offered her a hand up. Yes, there was a huge mental aspect to ninjutsu, but what this woman meant by 'mental powers' was not what Raph would mean by the same phrase. "Want to give it another go?" he asked. The look on the teachers face was enough for him. "This time, attack from behind." Raph offered. He turned around and waited for the attack to come.

Once again the teacher dropped to the floor seemingly of her own accord. A quiet 'Whoa' issued from the class.

"Are your two friends as skilled in this area as you are?" The teacher asked in awe. She was now impressed by Raphael's self defense skills and wished to learn something of this strange technique herself.

"Yes," was Raphael's simple response.

"Is there some of this that, perhaps, you could teach to the class?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa lady," Raph stopped that train of thought right there. "I am not only unprepared to teach, I am also not well enough trained to do so. Even between the three of us we could do more harm than good."

"Then, perhaps, a demonstration?"

Raph looked to Leo for an answer and, with a sigh and a roll of his eyes, Leo nodded. Raphael grinned.

"Sure, we can do that." Raphael replied as Michelangelo and Leonardo extricated themselves from the crowd in the room.

They stood three abreast, facing the class and Leo called a basic kata. The three Turtles moved together in perfect synchronization as they had been taught to do so many years ago. Next Leo called a more advanced kata, but still one that was far below their current abilities. Again, the three moved as one entity, though the class was paying rapt attention to what they did, the trio had tuned them out and focused on their kata.

Next Michelangelo and Leonardo sparred hand to hand while Raphael went through a kata with his sais. They switched places, Michelangelo moving into a nunchaku kata while Raph and Leo sparred, and they culminated with Leo's kata with a single katana. All three made sure to keep everything simple, unwilling to reveal their true skill in this area.

After the class ended the teacher approached them. "I do hope you will return to the class next week and give a few more demonstrations." She said. "Though, I would understand if you chose to find another class. This is far below your abilities."

"We've been wondering if you had anything like what we just demonstrated here." Leo had to ask. The question had been bugging him, it couldn't just be kvilethiacianux.

"We do, but very few practice it, and most of them are dead ones. I have heard of the other one, the one who was tested, so I know you and your friends are not gairen."

"Brothers, we're brothers." Leo corrected before he realized what she had really just said. "Wait, you heard about Donnie being tested?"

"Of course, it isn't every day that an outsider who looks like a dead one is tested by the engineers and found worthy. Half the city knows about him by now."

Leo groaned at this new piece of information. He didn't want his family to be in the spotlight like this. Additionally, he knew how Don handled undue attention and he was pretty sure that his brother was going to be pretty flustered when they found him.

"Is there something wrong?" The teacher asked, noticing Leo's demeanor.

"We just don't like that sort of attention is all. Where we grew up there is no one like us. If we were ever discovered we'd be locked up in a lab and studied, or killed and dissected just to see what makes us tick." Leo shuddered slightly. "Even walking around in the daytime with everyone else is very strange for us."

"Your fighting skills…"

"Our father trained us as a matter of necessity." Leonardo affirmed.

The teacher nodded. "Well, I still hope to see you next week."

Leo smiled. "Sure, we need the practice time anyway." He then left to join his brothers, who were standing at the door, and headed out to find Don.


	11. The Invitation

**Chapter 11 - The Invitation  
**

"Hey, Leo!"

"Raph, tell me that's not John behind us." Leo moaned. He knew it was John who had called after him, but he didn't want it to be.

Mikey and Raph turned around to face the young man who was currently hurrying to catch up with them.

"Guys, don't do that, act like we didn't noti… Uh, hi John, did you need something?"

"Hey. No, I don't need anything. I just wanted to… well, tomorrow's a break day. And since you're new here and all, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go see the nightlife?"

Leo looked uncertain.

"It'll be fun, I promise." John begged.

Still debating as to whether or not this was a good idea, Leo glanced to his brothers.

"Your brothers are welcome to come too."

That sounded like a last ditch effort to Leo. He didn't really want to go.

"We'd love to." Mikey answered for him. Catching a slightly horrified glance from Leo, Mike explained himself a little. "Oh come on, bro. It'll be fun, different at least." He could tell that his blue masked brother was far from convinced. "We might as well see this place while we're here." Mikey insisted. He never got to travel or go to parties at home, and this sounded like it might be fun.

"Yeah, come on, Leo." Raph added. "What could happen?"

Leo could think of any number of things that could happen, and he didn't like most of those scenarios. But Mike and Raph seemed so excited about a night on the town, and it wasn't something they really got to do. Leo finally nodded.

"Ok, John." Leo agreed quietly. "We'll go."

"Excellent! I can meet you here at 72." John gushed.

This drew three blank looks.

"Meet out front of the building?" The man suggested slowly, noticing the confusion.

Leo nodded, that much he understood.

"At 72 clarets." John continued in the same slow voice.

"Oh, uh. Ok." Leo tried to recall the clock on the wall of their apartment. He didn't remember it having a 72 on it. He'd have to ask someone later, someone who wasn't John.

"Great. I'll see you then!" John said as he scurried off.

"What just happened?" Leo asked in disbelief.

"I think you just got us all invited to a party!" Mikey exclaimed with a clap of his hands.

"What's this?" Don inquired as he came up behind his brothers.

Mikey offered a very rapid explanation of the short conversation and the four brothers started the walk home.

Don didn't really want to go, but Mikey sounded incredibly excited about the upcoming evening and Raph also seemed quite interested in attending whatever event John had in store for them. Leo quite obviously wasn't looking forward to the evening either, but would be going. Don sighed, if Leo had to go, he would too.

* * *

The arrived home to take a bit of a break before heading off to the restaurant. Leo gave his brother the notes from the chaos class, and Don dug into them. 

"I didn't understand a thing. What is the all about exactly?" Leo asked as he pulled up a chair beside Don who had spread the notes out on the kitchen table. .

"The concept is actually pretty simple. There are linear systems which have definite patterns and can be predicted with relative ease, and then there are random and chaotic systems. A random system has no order. Chaos often seems random, but it's not. Its structure just isn't in the first place you'd look for it."

Déjà vu, Mikey had been right earlier, darned near word for word.

"For example," Don continued, "the most common place to look for structure is with respect to time. As time passes then some pattern appears. There are systems that look random in time, but have obvious structure if you plot local maximums, or peaks, against the previous maximum. Basically where is is now is highly influenced by where it's been."

"So, we can use this to get home?" Leo questioned.

"Hmm… maybe. The doorways could move about randomly, but that's not terribly likely. The other problem is that we won't know an exact time and place, though we might find a probable location. Then it would be a waiting game." Don dug a little farther into one of the packets that Leo had given him. "You know? Math doesn't change. It's the same no matter where you go. We come here and they speak and write in English, but do they use the same mathematical symbols?"

"No?" Leo guessed.

Don pointed to what appeared to be an equation. "I recognize the numbers and letters, but these lines… No clue. Given some time I could figure it out, but I don't have that time now. I'll ask Miguel or Cora tomorrow." He started stacking the notes neatly.

"Miguel? Cora?" Leo prompted warily, not recognizing the names.

"I think we can trust them." Don tucked Leo's notes inside the packet and closed it before he recounted the events of the day to his brother. There wasn't much to tell after the confrontation in the morning. He had spent the rest of the day focusing intently on lecturers and trying to blend in with the other students. "I think most of them are essentially brainwashed." He concluded.

"That's the impression we've been getting too." Leo agreed.

"What I don't understand is why." Donnie complained softly. "Why do they feel the need to do this? How could it possibly benefit them?"

Leo dropped his head. "I don't have an answer, Donnie. Maybe we'll find out over the next few days. In the meantime, we had better get a move on or we'll be late."

Don just nodded before the two brothers headed to their room to drop off their weapons. "Leo, what is this party thing this evening all about? I've really had more than enough being around people for one day." He admitted quietly.

"I honestly don't know. John invited us."

"John? The weird guy from second block yesterday?" Don inquired. "You accepted an invitation from him to some random party?"

"I got the impression that it was more of a club thing." Leo replied insecurely.

Don just raised an eye ridge. "You accepted an invitation to a club?" That was something he could see Mikey or Raph doing, but not Leo.

"Well, Mikey and Raph just seemed so enthusiastic about the idea. What was I supposed to do? Say no and ruin their evening?"

All Don could do was laugh. He had a feeling that accepting the invitation was something Leo was going to regret. "I suppose I have to come along too, huh?"

"Yes. You can't leave me alone at a club with them!"

The purple masked turtle gave his brother an evil grin. "Sure I can! Besides, John will be there." Leo didn't seem to think that made things better. If anything it made matters worse. Don gave his brother an exaggerated, put-upon sigh. "Ok, I'll go."

"You do know that you never really had a choice, don't you?" Leo laughed as he clapped his brother's shoulder and lead the way out of the room.

"Yeah, I know. You owe me, bro."

"Yo dudes," Mikey called, "Come on. We're going to be late for work!"


	12. Christie's Observations

**Chapter 12 - Christie's Observations**

Christie critically eyed her four newest employees. After yesterday, she definitely had her qualms about them, but today with all four of them around even she had to admit that they were doing a decent job. They obviously hadn't done this sort of work before, but they were quick learners. All the same she kept a sharp eye on them, especially the one in the purple bandanna. She had heard stories about that one. Stories that he had fallen in with a group of people that Christie, as floor manager, didn't want her workers or her restaurant involved with. Alice, Sarah, Megan and Lindsey, who happened to own the restaurant, did have final say, but Christie couldn't help but feel that keeping the purple one around was going to open a huge can of wormels for them. All the same, he was working hard for her and that was what counted.

Maybe it was because she was watching him more closely than the others, but she had a weird feeling about him. He seemed a little uneasy, but what really struck her was that he noticed things he shouldn't have, especially with it being his second day. It was almost as if he had some innate sense of where his attention was required. A talent she had only seen in the best and most experienced servers seemed to come naturally to the strange 'turtle'. The purple 'turtle' proved her point by turning around at that moment and fixing her with a questioning look, as though he felt he'd been caught doing something wrong and didn't know what it was. Christie quickly schooled her features and gave him what she hoped was a friendly nod telling him that he was doing fine.

Turning her attention away from the purple one she decided to search for the skill he seemed to have in the others. She watched the blue one for only moments before he noticed and turned around. Obviously, that one was capable of the same trick. It wasn't the first time that she wondered what these things were, and she was sure that it wouldn't be the last. Continuing her observation of the blue 'turtle', she noticed that he exuded what she liked to call a 'management vibe'. It was especially apparent when he interacted with the other ones, but there was also something about him that made him seem non-threatening. Even though he obviously had some control over his family, he never once questioned what he was told to do. She found that remarkable. With her family, the ability to keep one's mouth shut had really skipped a generation. To put it simply, Christie didn't take orders well. The blue one looked her way again and, chagrined, she turned her focus to the red one.

Red noticed her attention almost as fast as Blue had. This was getting ridiculous. She knew they had names, but those names were so long and strange that she couldn't remember what they were. Jake pulled Red's attention back to the job at hand. It was quite obvious why Red had the busboy job. Of the four of them, he didn't seem to have much patience for being messed with. Just that one little look from him and she was shuddering. Red didn't have the calm aura that Blue did, nor did he have the patient one that Purple seemed to have under his obvious nervousness. She was pretty sure that Red had a short fuse and decided that he was best left alone. He was doing his job, and doing it well, there was no reason to antagonize him. She could really associate with that as she was fairly well known for her own limited patience with being patronized.

That only left one 'turtle', the one in the kitchen. He seemed to be having the time of his life. Matt even seemed to be in better spirits than usual. Orange took a little longer to notice her gaze than the others had, but he did notice. She had never met anyone quite like this one. He radiated happiness; it came off him in waves. Those who were around him couldn't help but be caught up in his aura and join him in his sheer enjoyment of life. Like blue, the effect was best seen with his family. If they looked down for a while it was only until their next trip to the kitchen.

"Christie?"

She looked around for the source of the voice and found Blue standing behind her. "Oh! You startled me. I didn't realize you were back there."

"Sorry," Blue apologized as though it was something people often got on his case about. "I was wondering if I may ask you a question."

Well, he was polite, that was for sure. "Of course," She would have used his name, but she didn't have a clue what it was. For some reason she thought it started with a 'D' or an 'L'. Maybe purple was the 'D', or was that 'M'? She was taking too long, Blue was half way through his question.

"…at 72, and I honestly don't know how the time system works here. Don might have figured it out, but I'd rather know for sure."

Ok, Blue wasn't 'D'. So 'L' or was that 'R'? She made a mental note to ask Megan later. She noticed that Blue was still waiting for an answer, and he seemed to be getting a little fidgety. "Oh. Well, afternoon shift ends at 70. Where do you need to be?"

"Down where that seminar thing was today." Blue responded promptly.

"There's plenty of time to get to City Center from here." Christie assured him before starting off to make some rounds.

"Christie?" Leo called after her. "Uh, that…" He seemed to be searching for a polite way to phrase what he was trying to say. "That didn't really answer my question. See, our time system is different. We measure time in hours, and there's only 24 hours in a day. I don't know what 72 means."

This shocked the butterfly. She never even considered that there might be other methods for measuring time. Clarets just made so much sense. "It is really quite simple."

Blue didn't look particularly convinced, but he did seem willing to hear her out.

"There are 100 clarets in a day. Seminar starts at 1." She was at a loss about how to tell him how long a claret was, since she had no concept of an… whatever that unit of time he had said was.

"Now long is one seminar block?" Blue asked suddenly.

"4 clarets, with one claret passing period between blocks," Christie informed him.

Blue seemed to be taking in the information, though he seemed a little unsure of the whole system. Christie tried to imagine how she'd feel if she had to deal with these 'hours' and decided that she didn't blame him for being confused.

"Don't worry, you'll get it." She said. It was kind of a strange tone for her. It wasn't often that she was assuring people. Usually she spent her time correcting them in the most efficient manner possible. There was just something about this boy… where did that come from? How old was this turtle anyway? She hadn't thought of any of them as boys before. They acted so much like adults most of the time, but something about how he had asked the question…

Blue looked at her with a slightly lopsided expression on his face. "Well, thanks Christie."

She felt even surer that this turtle was little more than a kid. "If you don't mind my asking…"

Blue turned back around to face her.

"How many latrex are you?"

The only response Blue gave her was a confused stare. He looked like a little lost caterpillar. It was strange to think that this was the one that she was so sure had some control over his family that the others lacked.

"A latrex is 400 cirlets"

Blue gave her another blank stare. "Hey, Donnie! You busy?" Leo called.

"Just a minute, Leo." Purple called back. Well, she had names for two of them now. Purple was Donnie, and Blue was Leo. She was absolutely certain that those weren't the names she had been told a couple days ago, but she didn't press the matter. Purp…Donnie trotted over after he gave an order to Orange.

"I need your numbers." Bl… Leo said flatly.

"Uh, ok." Donnie didn't seem to quite understand why he was there, but he was going to find out soon enough.

"Ok, um," Leo started, "The question is how many latrex we are."

Donnie cocked an eye ridge at the unfamiliar word. "Latrex" He repeated quietly as if committing the word to memory.

"A latrex is 400 cirlets"

"Cirlets." Donnie waited for more information, but Leo didn't have any to give.

"A cirlet is 100 clarets" Christie added for him.

"A DAY!" Leo exclaimed. "A cirlet is a day!"

"14 and a little bit if you assume a day and a cirlet are equal, which they're not. Less if you go by saying that one hour is 4 clarets." Donnie supplied after a moment. "How precise do you want it?"

Leo grinned and shooed Donnie away before getting back to work himself.

Christie was shocked at this news. They were children. She was truly surprised when Donnie said that they were 14, she had expected them to be closer to 19 or 20. This raised some other concerns in her mind. Concerns like you weren't supposed to hire children with fewer than 17 latrex. She sighed and allowed the boys to continue their work. She'd talk to Sarah, Alice, Megan and Lindsey later. She was fairly certain that these children weren't living with any parents right now. Why else did Blu… Leo have to stay home yesterday when Donnie was sick?

She observed them as unobtrusively as possible for the rest of the shift. They didn't act like children. If the rumors about the purple one were true and he was only 14… She didn't even want to think about the consequences that might have on these boys. As they prepared to leave, Leo thanked her again for her help. He was the epitome of perfect manners, and she wondered again about these strange boys.


	13. The Game

**A/N: **Yes, they're underage, or would be if they were home because this world doesn't have a drinking age. No, I am NOT advocating underage drinking, and I don't think they'll be doing so again in the near future. 

**Disclaimer:** I don't own 'em, I don't get paid, I don't mean any harm. Did I miss anything? Please don't sue.

* * *

**Chapter 13 - The Game**

Michelangelo lead the way back to City Center. He was speaking excitedly with Raph about what might happen that evening.

"You know, Mikey, none of us have been in a club here. Why are you asking me?" Raph growled.

Leo tuned them out and turned his attention to the sidewalk.

"Hey, you ok?" Don asked when he noticed his brother's less than enthusiastic demeanor, not that he blamed him.

"I don't want to do this, Donnie." Leo admitted. "Not now, not tomorrow, not ever."

Don nodded but said nothing.

"I mean, especially since it was John who asked. I don't know why, but I don't trust him. I hate being out in public and we're going, on purpose, to a place that's bound to be crowded."

"Fair enough, so why did you accept the invitation?" Don queried.

Leo looked at Mikey and Raph who were walking several paces ahead of them and talking between themselves. If Leo didn't know any better he'd say that they were up to something, but he attributed it to his heightened alertness and overactive imagination. He turned his mind to other worries as they approached City Center.

* * *

"There you are!" John called out. "I thought you'd show a little early, but you didn't." 

"Sorry, we had to work." Leo apologized as the statement had been directed at him. "We came as soon as we got off."

John nodded a little skeptically, but accepted Leo's statement. "Well, let's get going then."

It was John who led the way down the street to whatever place he had in mind and Leo positioned himself firmly behind Michelangelo and Raphael, Don was slightly to his rear and left, but if places changed Leo knew that Don would be running interference for him. Leo knew that his purple masked brother had caught the drift that he didn't really want to be around John. The walk continued without incident as far as Leo was concerned. Mikey had found a new person to ask questions of, and John had even given a few answers. Leo smiled a little as he noticed the annoyance in John's tone that was often present when people dealt with Mikey for the first time.

"Here we are, guys." John finally announced.

Loud music pounded inside the structure, but could only be heard when the doors were open. As long as the front door was closed you wouldn't know of the deafening racket inside. Never one for loud music, Leo respected his hearing, he cringed at the idea of entering the building. Seemed that no matter where you were, it wasn't a party without some music. He sighed as John opened the door and moved inside.

John found an empty table and went to the bar for a round of drinks. He came back with 5 glasses of shoek, which seemed to be this world's version of beer. The turtles watched as John started in on his drink before tentatively trying the stuff for themselves. Raph found that, while it didn't exactly have a pleasant taste, it wasn't terrible either. His brothers had a decidedly different opinion of the fluid. Mikey openly stuck his tongue out at the beverage and placed it on the table where it stayed until John decided that he was still thirsty after his own drink had run out. Don and Leo had also made faces at the repulsive taste, but they did manage to refrain from the actual act of sticking out their tongues. Raph finished Don's and John had polished off Leo's.

"So, you don't like the shoek?" John observed. "Well, let's try something else this time." He got up again and went to the bar again. This time Mikey jumped up and followed him. When they returned they carried three very brightly colored, layered drinks.

"Triklos," John had called them. And while Mikey seemed to enjoy it and Leo didn't openly object, the beverage was really too syrupy for Raph and Don.

Between Mikey, Leo and John the three drinks were gone, and if you were to ask Don tomorrow, this was about the point where he would tell you that the night started to go horribly, horribly wrong.

"Hey Leo, I gotta challenge for ya!" Raph taunted. "You, me, and a deck of cards. The game's Blackjack, and the loser has to chug his drink."

"I don't know, Raph..." It didn't sound like a particularly great idea to Leo. "And where are we going to get cards, anyway?"

That was when Raphael uttered the fateful words. "I dare you."

Leo glanced to the other people sitting at the table. Mikey and John seemed to like this idea, and Don didn't seem to offer up any objections either so… "You're on."

"Great, then I'll just go…"

"No, a neutral party gets the drinks." Leo interjected.

"I'll go!" Mikey piped up. "I know just the thing!"

As soon as he was gone Leo began to wonder just what they had gotten themselves into with having Mikey choose the drinks. The orange clad turtle shortly returned with two bright red beverages and Raph pulled a deck of cards out of his belt.

"Now wait just a minute. Why do you have those with you?" Leo asked suddenly.

"I was gonna go to Casey's after our run, remember?" Raph explained as he shuffled. When he finished he handed the deck to Don.

"What? You don't really think I'm going to take part in this do you?"

"Just deal, brainiac."

"This isn't exactly Blackjack, you know." Don told them, hoping to get out of the game. "Dealer is also one of the players."

"We're gonna play this way so it's fair." Raph stated flatly. Leo nodded affirmation of the idea. Don sighed and picked up the deck of cards giving them one last good shuffle before he started dealing. He was pretty sure at least one, and probably both, of his brothers was going to regret this little idea in the morning. He shook his head and started passing out cards.

Raph lost the first round and was just about to chug his drink. Mikey had run off to the bar to get a few more, especially since Blackjack was such a short game.

"Perhaps, instead of chugging, a sip or gulp would be more appropriate?" Don suggested.

Leo and Raph looked at each other and nodded in agreement. Raph took a sip of his drink and Don dealt the next hand.

Mikey returned three hands later, two of which Leo had lost. And the game continued. This time the drinks Mikey had returned with were just as brilliant as the first two, though they were different colors. While Don was paying attention to shuffling and Leo was looking elsewhere Mike winked at Raphael.

Seven hands later, Don shuffled the cards again. Raph now had a bright green drink in front of him that seemed to glow and Leo's was an equally obnoxious shade of yellow. Still not liking the lot he had been given, Don finished shuffling and dealt out another hand. It was about this time that Leo developed a nasty case of the hiccups.

Aside from his hiccups, Leo's counting ability also seemed to be going in the toilet.

"Hit me!"

"Leo, you already have 21, you win." Don explained gently, and not for the first time.

"Hit me!"

"I outta hit you. Maybe then your arithmetic will be a little better." Don mumbled, but didn't give Leo another card and instead turned to Raphael, who for some bizarre reason still seemed semi-sober. A little quieter than usual, but he wasn't slobbering on the table like Leo was.

"HIT ME!" Leo insisted.

"Leo, with the two that you're SUPPOSED to be hiding, you have 21!" Don was getting a little exasperated

"It's 19, hit me!"

"If you're using base 12 math it is! The rest of us are using base 10 like normal people and that's 21!"

"Hit me!"

"Donnie! Just give him the card already." Mikey whined. Raph was watching in amusement, but Mike was beginning to feel that this little idea had sounded a whole lot better on paper than it did in practice. Leo got petulant and whiny when he was drunk.

"Mikey, he doesn't need any more to drink, so stop encouraging him."

"Hit me!"

At this point Donnie had had enough. This game needed to end here and now. So he did exactly as Leo demanded. He hit him… right across the jaw.


	14. Consequences of a Drunk Leonardo

**A/N:** Worms, worms worms... please don't hurt me. Alright, before there is any confusion, the song is You're the Top, composed by Cole Porter and as sung by Ella Fitzgerald. This chapter was better when the lyrics were in it, but they had to go bye-bye. And the last bit of this chapter...

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the turtles or associated characters, places or whatnot. I don't get paid, and I mean no harm. Please don't sue.

* * *

**Chapter 14 - Consequences of a Drunk Leonardo**

Leo went down with a heavy thud.

"Geez Donnie!" Raph exclaimed as he jumped to his feet. There wasn't much that could sober one up quite as quickly as watching Don hit Leo.

"He told me to!" Don defended himself weakly, talking more to the floor than anyone else.

"That's not what he meant and you know it!" Mikey shouted.

Leo popped up off the floor where he'd fallen and crawled into the nearest available seat. That seat happened to already be occupied by John. "Did he hit me yet?" Leo asked as he picked up his cards again. Glancing around, he caught the strange looks on his brothers' faces. "Oh, are we not playing anymore? Alright." Leo started looking for other sources of entertainment.

Moments after it happened it seemed the whole incident was completely forgotten. With the quantities of alcohol his brothers had consumed, Leo in particular, Don couldn't say that he was surprised. But he sunk down in his chair anyway and desperately wished that he could still pull himself inside his shell. He wanted to go home. The noise, the bizarre behavior of his brothers, the smells, the sheer number of people, it was all making him a little crazy. What the shell had he been thinking? He hadn't had that much to drink, only a couple sips of various things that were placed in front of him at the beginning of the night and about a quarter of whatever this was in his glass now that he'd been working on for the past hour.

The song started and Leonardo recognized the tune. He immediately, and much to his brothers' shock, started singing to his new, uh, friend. Leonardo didn't care about anything around him other than the music that flooded his soul. He faced his new friend and began belting a Cole Porter classic.

"I didn't know that tune had words." John said in quiet awe.

The first thing that struck Raphael was surprise that Leo not only knew the words to this song, but he apparently knew them quite well. As his very drunken brother continued to sing he found something else out. Leo was pretty darned good, especially for one as smashed as he currently was. Raphael settled in with his post-drinking game shoek to clear his taste buds of the bizarre drinks Mikey had chosen and watch the evening's entertainment courtesy of his incredibly drunken brother.

Leonardo continued his song and even began a somewhat unbalanced dance around John. His usually unmatched self control had gone out the window for the night. Tonight was about having a good time, right? And that was just what he was going to have!

All Donatello could do was stare at his usually straight laced brother. At least it was something to focus on other than his boneheaded mistake earlier. Somehow, he suspected that there had been some foul play during the drinking game earlier. One glance at Raphael and Michelangelo was all he needed to confirm his suspicions. He considered getting after them for it, but decided against it. For starters they'd never hear the end of it from Leo, that is, if their brother ever admitted to being quite this far gone. And second, watching this was just way too much fun. Raphael was looking smug with his shoek resting on the arm of his chair, and Michelangelo's garish multicolored drink had already been rescued from the table as Leo continued his song and dance routine. What Don had now was a rather fruity concoction that John had recommended. It tasted kind of Hawaiian, like pineapple and coconut, and it was a little too sweet, but at least it didn't have that awful aftertaste the shoek did and it wasn't syrupy like the Triklos. He reached for his drink then leaned back in his chair to watch the scene his brother was making a la Ella Fitzgerald.

Leonardo danced his way around the table and back to his new friend. The blue masked turtle had put an arm around the guy's shoulders and was singing specifically to him. If he had had eyelashes, he would have been batting them.

It was all that Michelangelo could do not to bust up laughing. He knew he wouldn't be able to control himself much longer, this was just too much. Somewhere in the back of his mind Mikey knew that Leo was not going to be happy in the morning. If he and Raph were lucky then Leo wouldn't remember a thing, but somehow he had a feeling that Leo would find out one way or another exactly what had happened here tonight. And that was a frightening thought. However, it wasn't enough to decrease his enjoyment of the scene in front of him. Mikey watched as Leo's song got louder and his actions more and more outrageous. Leo had gone from just singing the song with a little dancing, to acting it out. The words sounded almost coy now, and every so often he tipped his head to the side in a way that Mike would almost call seductive. The clincher that made Mikey absolutely sure that something a little funny was going on here was when Leo had sat down in John's lap and tapped the guy's lips while singing about John being the smile of the Mona Lisa.

Raphael was slightly surprised that John hadn't pushed Leo away yet. In fact, the guy seemed to be lapping the attention up. A sudden memory crossed his mind and he wondered what exactly 'clamming hands' meant. Leo's behavior at the moment certainly wasn't something that Raph would tolerate from someone who was just a friend.

Leo had flopped back rather dramatically when the song called for it, and had nearly tumbled off John's lap, but John had somehow managed to prevent the fall. By this time, Donatello was quite sure that Leo had no idea how right he was in singing that he was a total wreck and a flop. The blue masked turtle was definitely wrecked and flopping around like a fish out of water. Never in his life had he seen Leo this plastered. Come to think of it, he had never seen Leo plastered, period. And it was something that he could live a long and happy life without ever witnessing again. Don was more than a little surprised when he noticed that it seemed as though Leo truly liked this guy. Personally, he found Cora more interesting in that way, but hey, if John could make Leo happy then Don had no intention of standing in the way. He just hoped that John didn't take Leo's actions tonight too seriously.

Leonardo turned the charm up a notch and was definitely playing with John in his drunken state. If Raph had been suspicious before, he was sure now. John wanted more from Leo than just friendship. He and his brothers watched a little dumbstruck as Leo snuggled into John's lap and played the game shamelessly. Oh there would be shame, of that they were certain; there just wasn't any right now. Raphael began to wonder if that drinking game earlier had been such a great idea. If Leo remembered this in the morning, or worse and more likely if he heard about it, Raphael knew that he would be dead. So dead. What had he been thinking? Leo was going to kill him for this one. But Mikey had been in on it too, maybe he could use that. Don hadn't stopped them, come to think of it Don hadn't known about the deception. At least he hadn't when Mike had gotten the drinks, Donnie was bright enough to have figured it out by now though.

Mikey could only watch what was quickly becoming an embarrassing scene when his brother, ne'er-do-ill, Splinter Jr., always in control, fearless leader Leonardo rubbed his beak against John's nose and continued his merry way through the song that was quickly becoming obnoxious. Mikey found himself hoping that the instrumental would run out leaving Leo high and dry.

People were beginning to notice the ruckus. If Donatello thought he wanted nothing more than to pull his head into his shell and disappear earlier, that had nothing on right now. Or better yet, he could slip away and disappear into the many shadows of the club around him. It would be so easy... But he had to stay. Leo was going to need help getting home. After what he'd done earlier, he owed Leo that much.

_**You're the nimble tread of the feet of Fred Astaire  
You're an O'neil Drama  
You're Whistler's mama  
You're my Johnny-Bear**_

Ok, maybe Leo didn't know all the lines, or he was playing, Raphael wasn't quite sure which. At this point no one was sure anymore. And Leo had drawn quite a crowd. This was a side of Leonardo that Raph had never seen, and actually rather hoped that he would never see again. He made a note to himself: no more drinking games with Leo. When he gets drunk it's incredibly embarrassing. Leonardo sat facing John, straddling his lap and he reached out and clasped his hands behind the man's neck and made him sway with the music.

Don, FINALLY, recognized that the end of the song was fast approaching and put his drink down on the table. He made ready to announce that it was time to go home.

Leo was positively cuddling with John in the little chair, and John seemed quite content to cuddle back. The little public display of affection was just about too much for Raphael, who made ready to speak, but John beat him to it.

"Come home with me, Leo." John slurred, he was almost as drunk as the turtle who had claimed his lap.

The three turtles still capable of at least some semblance of linear thinking, at least until they heard that statement, were struck speechless. Three trains of thought promptly derailed

"I don't know, John. I'm supposed to be home already. It's late. Sensei would be mad if he knew that I was still out." Leo then lowered his voice and moved closer to John's ear. In what would have been a whisper if he had any concept of volume at the moment, he said, "He'd be REALLY mad if he knew that I was in a bar!"

"I promise not to hurt you."

"I don't know, I can't think too good right now." Leo admitted, shaking his head slowly from side to side as if he were trying to clear it. "Why don't you ask Mikey? He can be my conscience for the evening."

"Now you know he isn't thinking straight, having Mikey as his conscience." Raphael whispered to Donatello.

"It took you this long to come to that conclusion? What the shell did you put in his drink?" Don shot back in a whisper just loud enough for Raph to hear over the music.

"Mikey? Can I take Leo home tonight?" John implored.

"What? Me? Why are you asking me?"

"Leo said that you're his conscience tonight. He really wants to come." John pleaded.

"Me?" Mikey had heard Leo's declaration, but had no idea what to do with it. "No, no, no. He was mistaken. Yeah, that's it. I'm not his conscience."

"Great then we'll just be…" John was making an attempt at standing up unsteadily and helping a very drunk Leonardo to his feet.

"No, Leo was just mistaken, Donnie's his conscience!" Mike declared triumphantly as he pointed at his purple masked brother. John aborted the attempts to stand such that he and Leo dropped back into their chair.

Donatello was not the least bit amused by this turn of events. He didn't want to be Leo's conscience. Sure the guy was friendly and Leo did appear to want to go, but he KNEW that Leo would regret it in the morning if he did. And now that Don had been made his conscience… Well Don didn't want that responsibility, especially with all the people who were still watching them. Raph and Mike made the mess, and now it seemed that Don was left to clean it up, as usual. Though, he had been the one to hit Leo earlier… He sighed and moved toward the strange pair on the chair.

"Oh, I don't know, John." Don finally answered. "I think he should really come home with us where he can sleep..."

"We'll sleep!" John promised loudly, and Don cringed. It wasn't the sleep, as in REM, delta, etc. that he was worried about, it was the other activities that might come up.

Raph was starting to get a little angry with this man and was about to forcibly pull his brother from John's lap. With a quick look to Raphael, Don promised to take care of the situation and Raph stormed out of the bar. Mikey followed, making sure Raph didn't do anything stupid. Now Donatello was on his own, and he wasn't too fond of that prospect.

"I'm sure you will. All the same we should really be getting home. Our father will not be happy if we come home without Leo." So Master Splinter might not find out anytime soon, but he would find out eventually, and Don was sure that he would not be happy.

"You can come too, and sleep on the couch!" John suggested.

_Oh, SHELL no! _ "I'm sorry, John, but that's really not going to happen." Though Don tried to keep his tone polite, he wasn't sure how successful he had been. Kneeling in front of the couple, Donatello gently pulled Leo, who was curled up and half asleep in the other man's arms, away from John. Leo made a sad little noise at being pulled from his warm, comfortable spot. Donnie continued to pull, slowly and gently, until Leo finally broke his hold on John.

"Bye-bye, Johnny." Leo slurred sadly with an exaggerated frown on his face. Almost as soon as his hold on John was broken Leo threw his arms around Donatello's neck, much to his brother's surprise, and snuggled up against Donnie's plastron.

_Oh you've got to be kidding me! _Don now found himself in a rather awkward position, and really wished that Raph or Mikey were here to back him up, and people were staring. He really wished he hadn't been crouching when he had pulled Leo away from John. The position left too much in the way of a lap, and Leo seemed to have claimed it. Also, he now had to stand up somehow, and he wasn't quite sure how he was going to do it. Finally, he shifted Leo a little and for lack of anything better cradled his brother similar to how one would carry a young child to bed. _Or a husband carrying his new wife over the threshold,_ Don thought catching the looks from the bar's other patrons._ Leo, you are way too big to be carried around like this!_

Don found his other brothers just outside the club. "You two owe me." He announced to the other turtles who were still capable of standing on their own two feet.

"Here, this is your fault, you carry him." Don ordered as he tried to give Leo to Raphael, but Leo refused to release his hold on Don's neck.

"No! Stay with Donnie!" Leo insisted with a hiccup as he held tighter to Don's neck. "They not nice." Apparently some part of Leo knew that Raph and Mikey had been up to something this evening, at least he did for now. Their actions must have stuck with him more the the fist to the jaw.

"Sorry Donnie," Mikey grinned, "seems you're stuck with him."

Donatello glared at his standing brothers. "Fine. Are we moving or not? He's heavy."

To Raphael it was more than obvious that even if Leo didn't remember tonight's events Don most definitely would, and he was not the slightest bit amused. In fact, he seemed a might bit snippy at the moment. Raph was quite aware that he owed his quiet brother big time.


	15. The Hangover

Disclaimer: I still don't own 'em. Never have, never will, no matter how cool that would be. I don't make any money from this, please don't sue.

**A/N:** Due to the rumor about review responses, though I can find no such restriction anywhere on the site, I have sent out responses via e-mail to everyone whose address I could find. There is one thing that I wish to comment on here though. Yes, Leo is probably the best ninja of the group, he is certainly the most dedicated, but that doesn't mean that the others can't take him down on once in a while. I'd wager that Raph, Mikey and Donnie have each wiped the dojo floor with him on occasion. And a HUGE thank you to everyone who reviewed!

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**Chapter 15 - The Hangover**

The first thing Leo noticed was pain. His head was pounding, and his jaw felt like it was bruised. Oddly, he didn't remember how he had gotten into this state. "Ugh." He opened his eyes a crack and promptly smooshed them shut again to keep out the offending light.

"Head hurt?"

Leo was startled, he wondered, for a moment, who had snuck into his room without him noticing. Then he realized that he knew that voice, Don. He forced himself to open his eyes and when he did, he saw Donatello leaning against the door jamb with his arms folded across his chest and holding some sort of hot beverage.

Leaning back into his pillow, Leo groaned.

"You never answered my question."

_He's still here?_ Leo was surprised as he had thought that Don had left. He opened his eyes again and looked to the spot his brother had occupied. Donnie wasn't there anymore, and Leo glanced around in an attempt to find him. He felt really weird, and it wasn't like him to misplace his brothers like this. He tried shaking his head to clear it and just wound up making things worse. The world spun around him.

"No, Leo, don't shake your head." Don said quietly as he sat down beside his brother and gently helped him into a sitting position. "Here, it's puteka, but it's not the same as what you gave me the other day. Kermit said it would help."

Leo accepted the cup and the pair sat in silence as he drank his puteka. Kermit had been right; whatever was in the cup helped a lot. By the time he was finished, Leo felt he could carry on at least a half decent conversation.

"What happened?" Leo asked as he put the cup down and rubbed his still throbbing temples.

Don sighed. "What do you remember about last night?"

Leo thought for a moment "We went out. To a… a bar or a club? Why were we at a bar?"

Don nodded, but didn't answer the question. "Anything else?"

"John was there; that weird guy from block two. Oh, he invited us, didn't he."

Don covered his laugh with a cough.

"Did I do something…" Leo paused as he searched his overtaxed memory for the right word, "dishonorable last night?"

Donnie was 'coughing' again at Leo's choice of words, and his brother had noticed the strange reaction. "Well, I guess it depends on your definition of 'dishonorable'." Don replied cryptically. "But, I won't lie, you will probably consider the evening embarrassing."

Leo groaned and dropped his head into his hands. Part of him had to know what he did, but another part really didn't want to know. "What did I do?" He asked unsurely, peeking out from between his fingers before removing his hands from his face. .

"Do you remember anything that happened after we got to the bar?"

"Not really. I remember having to tell Mike to calm down on the way there." Leo noticed when Don 'coughed' again, his brother had been doing that a lot this morning, but he ignored it. "Where are they anyway?"

"They're nursing their own hangovers. Though I doubt very much that theirs are as bad as yours is."

_Hangover? Did he say hangover? I have a hangover? What did I do last night?_ Then another thought struck him. "How come you don't have one, Don?"

"For starters, I wasn't stupid enough to take on Raph in a drinking game that Mikey got the drinks for. Mikey had his share of drinks last night too."

Leo suddenly remembered being challenged to that game by Raphael. His eyes widened.

"I see you remember something." Don replied flatly.

"I can't believe I did that." Leo moaned as he dropped his head in his hands again.

Don didn't say anything. Last night was going to haunt his nightmares for months. Forget the Shredder, yellow goo, Bishop, Triceratons or any other baddie that had ever come up against because they had nothing on seeing Leonardo drunk.

"What did I do after the game?" Leo asked hesitantly. He had to know.

Knowing that Leo would probably be better off if he didn't know Don was hesitant to tell, but his brother deserved the truth.

"Yousangyouretheoptojohn." He said quickly, quietly, and almost under his breath.

"I what?" Leo thought he understood the words, but he couldn't believe them.

"You sang 'You're the Top' to John." Don repeated more slowly. "A… and you acted it out."

"Oh shell."

Don wanted to stop there. He didn't want to tell Leo the rest, but his brother deserved to know. "Then John asked you to go home with him."

Leo's head snapped up, at that news. The movement had been a big mistake. He groaned, partially out of pain and partially out of sheer embarrassment. _I am not hearing this! _

"Mikey and Raph are as good as dead." Leo muttered.

"Oh good, I was hoping for another mess to have to clean up." Don deadpanned before continuing his explanation of the events of the previous evening. "Then you said Mike was your conscience, and he pinned the job on me. Raph stormed out and Mikey followed him leaving me to pull you out of John's lap and carry you from the bar with just about every other patron watching. You made quite a scene."

Leo just groaned and dropped his head into his hands. "Was I really going to go home with him?"

"I think that if we hadn't stopped you, yes, you would have." Don admitted.

"Oh." Leo continued to look at the floor. He lowered his clasped hands and looked at his brother. "I guess I really owe you big time, Donnie."

"Not as much as you'd think." Don replied. "How's your jaw?"

"Hurts. Why?"

"I, uh… kinda hit you to end that stupid drinking game."

Leo glared at his brother. "You hit me! Did EVERYONE have it in for me last night?"

"Well, I don't think John did. And technically, you told me to… repeatedly." Don mumbled as he twiddled his thumbs nervously.

Leo still glared, but all things considered, he had probably deserved it. "I guess I should still thank you for making sure I got home safe." Besides his head still hurt too much to do anything about any of it. He made a promise to himself that Mike and Raph would be getting their prank back.

"Good, because I think I know how I might be collecting on that debt."

Leo could tell from the look in Don's eyes that he wasn't going to like this idea.


	16. Tale of the Gairen

** Disclaimer:** I don't own the ninja turtles or associated characters, places, etc. I am not paid and I mean no harm. Please don't sue.

**A/N: **I have sent out another e-mail to all who reviewed. Thank you to everyone who took the time to do so! Thanky thanky! I LOVE YOU GUYS! **

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**** Chapter 16 – Tale of the Gairen.**

"Donnie, you can't be serious!" Leo objected after being told Don's plan.

"Why not. It's a perfectly safe and logical idea."

"I don't care if it's safe, it's not going to happen!" Leo realized that perhaps yelling at this particular point in time wasn't such a hot idea and groaned at the pain that blossomed in his skull.

"Do you have a better plan?" Don inquired, knowing perfectly well that his brother didn't.

Leo glared at his purple masked brother. He didn't like this one little bit, but Don did have a point, it was safe, it was logical and it was all they had. "Ok, ok, but if this plan goes south, I blame you."

"Then I suggest not messing up." Don grinned and went to make a vis-call.

* * *

The doorbell rang and Don jumped up to answer it. Shortly, he returned to the room with two people: a woman with a blueish skin tone and a man with maroon hair. Don quickly made introductions before Cora pulled two small white bottles out of her bag. 

"So, who's the other lucky turtle?" She asked brightly as she tossed the two bottles to Miguel.

"That would be me." Leo glowered at Donnie as he spoke. "Though I am going to say one more time that I really don't like this idea."

"I think it's a great plan, Leo!" Mikey laughed. He couldn't wait to see this.

"Wonderful! You can do it." Leo took one of the bottles from Miguel and handed it to Mikey. After the previous evening he was just daring Mikey to mess with him.

"Uh uh, Leo. You're the one who participated in the drinking game, besides it would asking too much to make Mikey convincing" Don protested, taking the bottle from his orange-masked brother and returning it to Miguel.

"Yeah, Leo." Mikey added with a laugh.

Leo glared at his boisterous brother, sighed and followed Don and Miguel into the bathroom.

"So, uh, how come you guys look like gairen?" Cora cautiously inquired.

"What are these gairen we keep hearing about?" Mikey asked in response. "And who says we look like them? Maybe they look like us!"

"Tell you what." Cora laughed at Mikey's comical take on the subject. "I'll answer your question when Don and..."

"Leo." Raph reminded her.

"Right, When Don and Leo get out."

"Sounds fair." With that, Michelangelo started in on their origin story. Raph left after a while and returned from the kitchen carrying a bag of some sort of potato chip-like thing. Mikey didn't think they smelled particularly good, in fact they smelled downright horrible. When Raph offered one he was quick to turn it down.

&

"Donnie, I feel stupid." Leo stated flatly as he glanced down. This was too weird, and he didn't like it one little bit.

"I think I resent that remark." Don cried indignantly.

"You know what I mean."

"I think you look great!" Don grinned.

"You would." Leo muttered.

"Shall we go see what the others think?" Miguel asked. He had done a pretty good job if he did say so himself.

"Ah Leo?" Don interrupted as his brother started putting his gear back on.

"Right. This is stupid."

"Your complaints have duly been noted. Several times, actually." Don responded.

"Well?" Leo asked Miguel.

"I think you both look great."

Without another word, the two turtles opened the bathroom door and entered the room beyond. Michelangelo was just finishing his explanation of how they had gotten to this world.

"Whoa. You two done already?" Raph asked incredulously. "I mean you were only in there, like, ten minutes."

"Yeah, we're done." Leo said.

Mikey found the whole thing hilarious. It just wasn't natural. He pushed aside the pain in his gut and laughed even harder at his now-purple-masked brother's annoyance. From the look on his face, you could definitely tell that the light skinned, purple-masked turtle was, in fact, Leonardo. He knew he shouldn't be throwing it in Leo's face like this, especially after the previous evening, but he just couldn't help it. He also heard Raph stifling guffaws beside him.

"I told you this was a bad idea." Leo reiterated. He looked at Don and had to admit that it was a little strange, even comical, to see his brother looking for all the world like what he was used to seeing only as his own reflection. Don even wore Leo's twin katana strapped on his back. Leo himself was carrying his brother's bo staff.

"Well, if you guys can keep your yaps shut, it's pretty convincing." Raph gave them his seal of approval. "But I think John's gonna know the difference between your voices tomorrow morning."

"Shell, I forgot about him!" Don moaned. He was beginning to think that maybe it would have been easier to switch with Mikey.

"You know something?" Leo grinned. "I think I'm beginning to like this plan after all." He couldn't help but laugh at the annoyed expression on Don's face.

* * *

"Cora," Mikey prompted when he was finally able to stop laughing, "you promised us a story." 

"I did." She waited for everyone to have a seat before starting in on the day's history lesson. "Up until about 40 latrex ago, the gairen were accepted as members of our society. They were a great bunch to live and work with, but that all changed, almost overnight."

"Yeah, my parents tell of the day the gairen revolted." Miguel offered. "Well, it wasn't really a revolt so much as a, uh, plague."

Leo didn't like the sound of that. "What do you mean a plague?" If the gairen were so much like them, then it might be possible for them to catch whatever this 'plague' was.

"It was completely without warning." Cora said. "They went to bed one evening living and woke up as dead ones. The next day they rampaged through the town,"

"Killing hundreds in mere clarets." Miguel added.

Cora continued the old story she had heard since she was a child. "Forces were rallied, mostly practitioners of kvilethiacianux, and the gairen were herded from town. Now they roam the forests beyond Koyes Glade."

"They are feral. Their minds lost to the disease that took them all overnight. Where they were once living beings like the rest of us, they are now cold. Both in their hearts and to the touch." Miguel shuddered, remembering the only experience he had ever had with a gairen, one that had made the mistake of wandering into town.

"That explains why Kermit was so worked up when I said we didn't tolerate cold very well!" Leo exclaimed.

"And why the guy in the yellow room freaked out when I explained what cold blooded was." Don added.

Miguel nodded. "The gairen are the only creatures in this world that do not make their own heat. They are dead, vital fluids no longer flow through their bodies."

"But the crocs thought we were young gairen." Leo objected. "If these gairen are dead, how do they... how... uh."

"There's not a delicate way to ask that one, bro." Raph interjected.

"I don't think we can really call them crocodiles or alligators if they're warm-blooded. Same goes for calling Kermit a frog. Unless that's what they're called here." Don mumbled absently, more to himself than anyone else as he was fairly certain that no one was listening.

"Where do baby gairen come from?" Mikey asked, rephrasing Leo's question.

"How come he can get away with questions like that?" Raph muttered to Leo. The blue-masked turtle just shrugged in response.

"No one really knows." Cora answered. "Well, I suppose the gairen do. But no one in town has been able to come up with an answer for that question. We do know that the gairen are still dead, and that anyone who strays too far into Koyes Glade never comes back."

* * *

**A/N:** Hmm... Lots of talking in this one. Lots of talking in a lot of my chapters. I'm trying to work on that. Like it? Tell me! Didn't like it? That's ok too! Tell me how to improve it! Thanks for reading! and double thanks if you take the time to review! 


	17. Role Playing

**A/N:** We all remember who's wearing what colors now, right? Just in case... Leo's in purple and is carrying a bo staff, and Don's in blue and carrying double katana.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing, I get paid nothing, I mean no harm. Please don't sue. I did, however, create the world and non-TMNT or Kermit the Frog characters. Well, Kermit isn't exactly the Muppet, but I did swipe the name.

* * *

**Chapter 17 - Role Playing**

"Just act like everyone else and you'll be fine." Cora assured the purple masked turtle she walked beside.

"So I keep hearing. Have I mentioned just how much I don't like this idea?" Leo responded.

"You have," Miguel interrupted, "but would you rather go to that chaos class again?"

"Ah, no."

"Well...?"

"Ok, ok. It's the only choice we have!" Leo moaned. He knew it, but he didn't have to like it.

"Be quiet from here on in." Miguel informed. "We don't want anyone to suspect anything."

Leo nodded and followed the pair into the first class on Don's schedule. He felt like a dimwit when he caught Don's bo on the chair and got himself royally stuck. _How does Donnie manage to move without this stupid thing getting in his way all the time? _Leo thought as he tried in vain to get himself unstuck. Miguel eventually helped him free himself from his predicament.

* * *

Don found himself sitting in another history class. It was better than the 'literature' classes they had taken in the past, but it was far from what he wanted to be doing at the moment. He was discreet about it, but the notes in front of him were definitely not from this course. A couple sheets of Leo's chaos notes were sitting on the desk in front of him, and a third sheet was his own calculations. He was re-writing most of the notes Leo had taken in more familiar notation. Working through the packets his brothers had brought home would have been preferable, if it wouldn't have been so obvious that he was doing something else. As it was, he was slightly worried about getting caught.

"What were you working on, Donnie?" Mikey asked as they exited class.

"It wasn't 'History of Milok'." Don responded quietly. "And please don't call me by that."

"Right. So, figure anything out, _Leo?_"

"Maybe. I don't know yet." Don halted at the door to their second block class. "Do we really have to go to this one?" He asked quietly, pleadingly.

"I thought Leo liked this class." Mikey said to Raphael.

"He doesn't like it today." Don insisted. "Isn't there something else that we can take?"

"Aw, come on, it's only one little class."

"I'm being punished for a crime I didn't commit!" Donnie moaned.

"Leo!" John cried out as the three turtles entered the room.

Donnie immediately tried to turn around, but the motion was halted by his brothers who stood on either side of him. At Mikey's prodding Don gave John a little wave, but said nothing. John bade them over and Mikey and Raph headed his direction, to do otherwise would have been rude. Don gave Raph a pleading look, but it was no good. He was stuck.

"Hey, how are you after the other night. I think we were both pretty far gone."

_I wasn't gone. _Don decided that a whispered response was the way to go. "I'm ok."

John wrinkled his brow and looked at the blue-masked turtle in concern. "You sure? You don't sound well."

So he should have known better, but Don knew that he didn't sound like Leo. "Sore throat." He whispered again.

"Want me to kiss it, make it better?" John asked with a seductive smile.

_EW! I don't even WANT to know HOW one might go about doing that. That's disgusting! Ew, ew, ew! _"No, thank you." Don said as politely as he could manage. He could only hope he hid his first reaction to the question sufficiently.

"Leo?" John asked, his smile fading quickly. Instead he looked concerned. "Did I do something wrong? I mean the other night, and when we clammed hands...?"

_What's with this whole clamming hands thing anyway? _"You don't want whatever I picked up." Don said quickly, hoping to diffuse the situation without actually responding to the question. He could hear Mikey and Raph stifling laughter beside him and glared at the pair who he considered responsible for the situation with John in the first place. If they'd never gotten Leo drunk in that stupid game, he wouldn't be doing this now.

"You guys are horrid!" John shrieked. "He's sick and you think it's funny?"

Don wanted nothing more than to sink so far into his chair that he simply disappeared. What he wouldn't give for the chair to simply eat him right about now. Maybe he could have just gone to the chaos prof after Seminar and asked a few questions. Then Leo would be here getting his just desserts instead of listening to engineering teachers drone on. At this moment, Don would have preferred the engineers. _Whose stupid idea was this anyway? _Leo's voice responded in his mind

"_Yours."_

_Yeah, yeah, you don't have to rub it in._

For the rest of the class John kept reaching over and putting a hand on Don's arm. In response, Donnie spent quite a bit of the class 'coughing' so he had an excuse to move said arm out of John's path.

Finally, the class ended and Donatello was spared John's less than desirable presence. He followed Mikey and Raph to pottery and found himself responsible for painting the drinking glass Leo had made in the previous lesson. Mike received yet another joke at the expense of his, now completed, flower vase.

Raphael noticed that Donnie was being particularly quiet during pottery. Sure, he wasn't the most outgoing of turtles, but he usually added something to a conversation. It was almost as if Don was somewhere else entirely. That wasn't an unheard of occurrence, but there was just something off about this whole situation, and it wasn't that Donnie was pretending to be Leo.

"Hey bro," Raph said as he waved his hand in front of Don's face. "You still with us?"

"Huh? Oh... yeah." Donnie finally responded. By now he had Mikey's undivided attention too.

"What's wrong?" Raph asked insistently.

"Nothing."

"Don't you lie to me, bro." Raphael hissed. He knew full well that something was bothering his brother, and he really hated to be lied to.

"Yeah," Michelangelo added. "You're definitely distracted." he indicated the glass that sat in front of Don. The glass that had started out being painted a solid blue, it was Leo's after all, and now had big swatches of various other colors mixed in a haphazard way: red, orange, yellow, green, indigo and violet had all found their way onto the originally blue cup.

The teacher had noticed the commotion at the table and had strode over to get her students back on task. When she got there she noticed the mess that the blue-masked one had made of the nice little cup he had shaped yesterday.

"And that piece had so much potential." She bemoaned as she walked up to the table. The blue masked turtle's eyes shot up to her and he looked a little scared or maybe angry, she wasn't sure which. They were so different from herself that she had some trouble reading their expressions.

Don snapped to attention when the teacher spoke, and he looked at the camel-like being in surprise. He hadn't noticed her come up behind him and that bothered him. It was something that he should have noticed, but he had been too distracted.

"I'm sorry." Donnie said when he finally found his tongue was indeed still in his mouth where it belonged and hadn't gotten up and left as he had suspected for a moment. He caught the strange look he received from the teacher and was suddenly terrified. There was something very wrong, and it wasn't that he was impersonating Leo. He was fairly certain that all his brothers were ok, but something was definitely amiss. He fought to get a lock on the feeling, but it was too nebulous. Leo was fine, Raph and Mikey seemed fine, that only left one option.

_You shouldn't be here._ Something told him.

* * *

Leo knew that something was wrong as they reached the middle of third block. He was fairly certain that he hadn't been found out, but beyond that there were several possibilities. All he knew was that someone, somewhere, was in some sort of trouble. He focused on the feeling while maintaining the impression of his concentration being on the lecturer in front of him.

_You shouldn't be here._

He snapped back to the present and knew who the problem was with. Deep down, Leo had known that this might happen, but he had fervently hoped it wouldn't. All he could do was hope that his brother could pull it together before irrevocable damage was done. All the while, another part of him was insisting that what he had found was only the tip of the iceberg.


	18. Offer

**A/N:** Wow, it's been a while since I've updated this one. Bet you thought I'd forgotten about it! Nope, I haven't. So, after a brief time-out, it is time to continue this story!

* * *

**Chapter 18 - Offer**

Michelangelo and Raphael watched as Donatello grasped at his head and groaned.

"Uh oh." Mikey muttered. "That can't be good."

Raph nodded and sneaked a glance at the teacher who looked shocked at the turn of events. "Hey bro, you ok?" Raphael asked as he touched Donnie's shoulder. He wished he could call the other turtle by name, but that was impossible with the audience he had. "Come on, snap out of it." Raph demanded.

Mike could tell that Don was trying to do as Raph had asked, but he was definitely having trouble. He caught the teacher's bizarre look as he reached over and touched Donnie's other shoulder, offering what assistance he could.

"He's been sick." Michelangelo explained to the teacher as Don tried to get control of himself.

The teacher looked at the trio in concern. "Why don't you take him home and let him get some rest?" She suggested.

Don calmed and opened his eyes. He was tired, but looked at the teacher. "No, I'm ok now." He insisted. "I'm really sorry I messed up the glass."

The camel looked at the turtle before her and he sounded genuinely sorry. "It hasn't been fired yet so why don't you just clean it up and try again tomorrow? I won't fire it tonight." She suggested. When the turtle brightened she smiled.

* * *

Leo felt calmer now. Whatever had been wrong with Donnie had been sorted out, and it seemed that no harm had been done. All the same, he couldn't shake the feeling that something else was going on that he didn't yet know about. The lecturer before him was rambling and writing lots of math on the board. Leo didn't really care, and was actually meditating through the class. Miguel and Cora hadn't noticed this as being a problem earlier so Leo had continued throughout the day. That had been the main reason he had sensed Don's distress.

Miguel and Cora stood and Leo joined them on their trek to their next class.

"Donatello." The lecturer called after class.

_Oh Shell! _ Leo turned to face the man who had called his 'name'. "Yes sir?" he responded politely and quietly in his best impression of his brother's voice. Even though he had to admit that it wasn't a very good one.

"I wanted to talk to you. It concerns the job you have taken in town."

"Sir?"

"The one at the restaurant."

"Oh. That."

"With your potential you should be working a much more prestigious job. One where you talents and abilities can be put to good use."

Leo didn't like where this little conversation was going. He didn't like it one little bit. "That position is the one my brothers and I were offered when we arrived." The look he received at his response told him that he may have just made an error.

"Your brothers?"

Too late to go back now, he forged ahead. "Yes sir. I have three."

"Are they as skilled in this area as you are?"

Leo might have waited a fraction of a second too long before responding. He only hoped that the teacher hadn't noticed. "No. They have their own interests."

"Tell me about them."

Now that was the last thing that Leo wanted to do, although this person seemed quite nice to him. The man was expecting an answer and Leo had a feeling that someone under the goo's influence would respond so that meant that he would have to respond, and he would have to be careful to respond the way Donnie would.

"Well, Mikey likes to cook and is a bit of a prankster. Raph knows quite a bit about automotive repair, but that's at home. I don't think your vehicles work like ours do. Leo is more... inwardly focused.

"Hmm..." The teacher nodded and eyed the turtle before him critically. "This 'automotive' repair of which you speak, what is that."

_Shell_ "Repairing vehicles, motorcycles mostly." The teacher still didn't seem to understand. "I haven't seen any here." Leo added hastily. Having Don caught in the clutches of the engineers was one more brother in that position than he wanted there, to have Raph caught too would be completely unacceptable.

The teacher nodded and considered the turtle's words for a moment before he spoke again. "Well, the real reason I called you up is to offer you a job. One more in line with your interests and unique abilities."

_Unique abilities?_ Leo thought. _What exactly does he mean by that? _"Sir?"

"Come now, don't be so modest." The teacher insisted. "You are a skilled engineer from another world. There is much that you can teach the rest of us."

"Teach?" Leo was getting worried.

"In a professional sense, of course. Actually, we are designing a new engine for a vehicle we are working on and I think your unique background would be ideal for the project."

Leo was about to speak, about to object, about to say anything, when the teacher interrupted him.

"Great, you start tomorrow." With nothing more than that the teacher exited the room leaving a dumbstruck Leo in his wake.

"Terrific." Leo muttered sarcastically to the now empty room. "What am I supposed to do now?" With no other ideas about what to do, he continued to the next class, where he reunited with Cora and Miguel. The pair immediately picked up on the change in Leo's mood. While he hadn't been fond of the switching idea in the first place, he was annoyed now and it showed.

"What was that all about?" Miguel asked under his breath.

"He's designing some new engine and wants Donnie to work for him."

"It's a good job." Cora commented absently. "Merle has a good reputation among his workers. He's less likely to pull Don away from you than some of the other engineers."

"So this is a good thing?" Leo asked incredulously.

"Well, better than it could be." Miguel affirmed. "I'd say to take the job, but make sure you two switch back before work starts. That is, unless you think you can fool the guy into thinking you know everything there is to know about engines on your world."

"Ah, no, not really."

* * *

Donatello was having trouble concentrating in the chaos class. The little crimson tripod had the most monotonous voice he had ever heard. Considering that he had sat through a day's worth of engineering classes geared at zombies, that was saying a lot.

The notes in front of him made sense when he forced himself to look at them, but that was getting harder by the minute. He glanced around the room and his eyes fell on his brother. Mikey didn't look like he felt well. Don forced his attention back to the lecturer just in time to hear a pattern description that caught his attention.

"Each position depends on a previous one." The critter scribbled on an overhead projector. "This can be modeled using a differential equation." More scribbling. "A simple algorithm can be implemented to input any previous position into the equation to determine the next position." A graph being projected on the wall looked familiar. He hadn't seen it before, but there was something about the way the points were distributed...

Donnie's attention was hooked. He snapped up the notes he had taken and the packet from the previous day. Bringing to bear every theory he had on the portals he looked through what now lay in front of him, and he found a small amount of hope for getting them home. His attention was drawn a moment later by the sound of someone being sick followed by a heavy thud.

* * *

**A/N:** It seemed to me that I hadn't written a real good cliffie in a while. And as I attempt to begin drawing this little tale to a close, there should be a few more of them popping up. There's still a way to go with this one, but it's time to begin tying up the loose ends rather than making more of them. (she says immediately after creating a GIANT loose end) 


	19. A Little Help

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Turtles, I don't get paid, I mean not harm, please don't sue!

**A/N:** Review responses are at Stealthy Stories! Check out my bio page if you need the link! Sorry this took so long!

* * *

**Chapter 19**

Raphael, 'Leonardo' and Michelangelo were going to be absent from Kvilethiacianux. They were preoccupied elsewhere. Don knew that there was nothing he could do for his brother at this point. He had checked him over briefly and had no idea what was wrong with Mikey. It wasn't any sort of illness he'd ever had before, not that that was saying much. He was quite concerned to learn that his orange-masked brother hadn't felt well for a couple of days. No one had noticed and that was incredibly disturbing. Don tried to send Raphael off in search of some sort of medical assistance.

"What? Are you crazy?" Raph objected to Donnie's suggestion.

"We're not in New York anymore, Raph." Don insisted. "We don't have to hide. The opportunity exists for us to ask for help, and I think we should. I can't do anything for him. I'm not a doctor."

"You've been doing this stuff for years, D-." Raph cut himself off before he said his brother's real name.

"I can wrap and ankle and apply some bandages. I can look up symptoms on the Internet and hack into medical databases if I have to. That kind of isn't an option right now. The avenue exists for us to get him some real medical assistance from professionals, and I think we should take it." Don's concern increased ten fold when Mikey fell asleep, or possibly passed out, right there on the floor next to his own vomit.

Raphael nodded and sought assistance from the crimson tripod. The entire class had noticed the commotion, but seemed confused as to what to do. Raph then stayed with Michelangelo while waiting for help to arrive. Donatello, meanwhile, ran off to the class he was supposed to be in. He took a deep breath before opening the door and interrupting.

"Yes?" The professor at the front of the room asked the intruder.

"I- I'm looking for Donatello."

"We're in class here..." The professor seemed to be waiting for a name.

"Leonardo, sir." Don told the teacher. "And I sincerely apologize for the intrusion," Don gave the teacher a low bow, "but our brother just collapsed. We need his help, sir."

Leo wanted nothing more than to jump from his seat and run after Donnie, but he couldn't do that.

"This is an engineering class, that tells me that your brother is an engineer, not a doctor. Go find a doctor, Leonardo." The teacher snapped at the blue-masked turtle who had interrupted his class.

"Sir!" Don cried. "You don't understand." He knew he would have to think quickly to get Leo out of class. And it was not lost on him that the conversation was getting awkward very quickly. "We're not like anyone else here, and he's the only one who might be able to assist the doctors. Please sir, we need him."

Leo watched as the teacher turned to him. "Is what he says true, Donatello?"

"Yes sir." Leonardo responded. He caught his brother mouthing a word for him and continued his sentence. "My brothers will probably not be able to answer the questions the doctors have about our physiology." He desperately hoped that he had used the right word because if he hadn't, they were sunk. Catching an almost imperceptible nod from Donnie, Leo breathed a subtle sigh of relief.

"Please. Please sir." Don begged. "Please, we need him."

The teacher turned back to Leo in the lecture hall. "Donatello, please get the notes from Miss Crossfeld before next class."

Leo nodded and made his way down out of the lecture hall and joined his brother at the door. Together they raced down the halls to where Raph had stayed with Mikey as they waited for help to arrive. As they ran Leo spoke, or rather, lectured.

"Are you nuts,coming down to the engineering class like that?"

"I-"

"It was reckless, it should have been Raph."

"But I-"

"I know you've been weird about this whole thing all day, so don't bother to deny it." Finally, Leo stopped talking and let his brother get a word in edgewise.

"I didn't have time to explain how to get here to Raph. These corridors aren't exactly easy to navigate. Come on, I don't know how fast help gets here, and I don't know where they go." Donnie picked up his pace a little and Leo followed suit in hopes that they would get to Mikey before he was taken elsewhere.

* * *

Mikey had lost track of most of what was happening around him. He knew that Raph was around somewhere, but he had no idea where Leo or Donnie were. All he knew was that there were a lot of people around him and that he hurt. At his body's insistence, he allowed himself to drift off to sleep again.

* * *

The paramedics had arrived and Raph had been forced away from Mikey so they could work. He didn't understand what had just happened, or why it had, and he wished that Leo and Donnie were there. He watched the paramedics work, and was frustrated that there was nothing he could do other than wait. It came as something of a shock when one of the paramedics pulled him aside and started asking him questions that he wasn't sure of the answers to. 

"Is he allergic to anything?"

"Like what?" Raph was having a little trouble answering the questions posed by the creature that looked like a giant lobster.

"Does he have any known pre-existing conditions?"

"What?"

"Are you gairen?"

Raph knew an answer for that one. "No."

"Can you contain him if he gets dangerous?"

"What?" Raphael had never been more relieved in his life when he saw Donnie and Leo come racing around the corner. "Leo! They keep asking questions!"

Leo gave a small nod, and used his elbow to prod Donnie forward. The blue-masked turtle turned and glared at Leo, but stepped forward and started answering the questions to the best of his ability.

"Is he allergic to anything?" The paramedic repeated.

"Not that we know of, but we-"

"Does he have any pre-existing conditions?"

"I don't think s-"

"Can you contain him if he gets dangerous?"

"Like physically?" When the paramedic nodded, Don was still confused. "Yes, but why?" He spoke quickly to get his question in before the paramedic cut him off again Don noticed when the paramedic's expression softened and he looked at the three healthy turtles with pity in his features. Almost as if he had just noticed something about the group.

"Well, boys," The lobster-man observed the trio carefully. "You seem to be quite similar to the gairen, and they were struck by a disease over 40 years ago. We do not yet know what is wrong with your..."

"Brother." Leo inserted.

"Your brother, but it is possible that it could be the same disease that affected them. If it is, all four of you will need to be contained."

"WHAT?" Raph demanded. "What do you mean contained?"

"Easy Raph." Leo whispered, grabbing his brother by the elbow pad.

"The gairen became violent and dangerous. If that happens to you, we cannot allow you to remain free in our city."

"We understand." Leo said as he clapped his other hand over Raphael's mouth. "But that's not going to happen now is it?" Leo watched the creature carefully, knowing that if he didn't get the answer he hoped for that things would get tricky very quickly. For now he maintained a careful grip on his quickly becoming irate brother.

"No. You have done nothing wrong at this time, and it would be wrong to lock you up without just cause. I mention it only to inform you of the possibility." The paramedic moved away from the three standing turtles and jumped into the pandemonium surrounding the fourth one.

"What are the chances?" Leo surreptitiously asked.

"Of us getting that disease?" Don was pretty sure that was what Leo had referred to, but he wasn't entirely sure. When Leo affirmed his statement he continued. "I'm not sure. Other than the fact that we look like gairen in this world I don't know enough about them to answer that."

"So find out what we can about the gairen?" Raph asked.

"Well, it sounded like they were warm-blooded until they all caught that disease from what Cora and Miguel told us." Leo commented, remembering the story.

"If that's true then it's not likely that we could catch it, but anything is possible. Especially in a place like this."

"You have no clue, do you." Raph muttered.

"Not much of one, no." Don admitted.

"How difficult is it to get this dye off?" Leo whispered as they watched the paramedics work.

"This ought to do it. We just need somewhere to wash it off." Don slipped a small bottle of solvent out of one of his belt pockets and into one of Leo's.

"I want you there to answer questions." Leo said to Don who looked like he was about to object, but held his tongue. Next, he glanced at Raph. "You follow them, stay with Mikey. We've got to make a stop first."

Without another word Leo grabbed Don by the wrist and raced through the halls to the locker room near where they'd had kvilethiacianux. As they entered the room, Leo started stripping off the pads, belt and mask he wore. Donnie followed suit as he chased his brother, hopping on one foot as he removed his knee pads. Leo pulled the bottle out of the pocket Don had slipped it into, and gave it back to his brother.

"You first." Leo insisted.

Don was quick to turn on the water and get damp enough to dilute the solution so he could get the dye off of him. He jumped out of the water and used about a quarter of the solution on himself. Leo was following his lead, and soon they were geared back up in their normal items. They raced back through the halls of the school hoping to catch up with Raph and Mikey. Mike was just being wheeled out of the classroom when they got there. Leo and Don didn't much notice, but not all the dye had come off. They were almost exactly the same color rather than their normal colors, and they had a slightly tie-dye appearance to them as a result of their haste. Not that anyone in this world was likely to notice that sort of change anyway.

"Where did you guys go?" Raph asked as his brothers ran up behind him.

"We had to change." Leo responded. Raph was slightly surprised to hear Leo's voice coming from the turtle in blue as he'd just gotten used to Donnie wearing that color.

The turtle trio raced after their brother and caught up with their ill brother at the ambulance. With only space for one other passenger, Leo sent Don with Mikey. As the ambulance pulled away Raphael and Leonardo were unsure of how they would follow. Kermit exited the building while they were contemplating their options.

"Was that one of your brothers I heard about?" He asked.

"Yeah," Leo replied distractedly. "It was Mikey."

"Well, come along, I'll give you a ride to the hospital." Kermit offered.

Leo and Raphael stared at their landlord in disbelief.

"Don't you want to follow?" The frog asked, turning back around to the pair. "I'm offering you a ride to the hospital, it is customary for you to accept."

Raph and Leo quickly accepted the offer and hurried after Kermit, who led them to a dark blue hovercraft like the ones they had seen in the streets since their arrival.


	20. Numares

**A/N:** Wow, it's been a while for this one, but I got inspired to put down another couple of chapters last night! So, after a brief hiatus the next chapter is FINALLY up! A huge thanks goes out to all you wonderful readers and a second doubly huge thanks goes to all who took a moment to put a few words in that little review box! You guys ROCK! And proper review responses can be found at Stealthy Stories. Need the link? It's on my bio page!

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**Chapter 20: Numares**

"Well, you must belong with the other one." The Emergency Room doctor said as he entered the waiting room. "I was told that you might be able to answer any questions regarding your, erm... unique physiology."

Don stood up when he was addressed by what looked like a giant cockatoo. "I'd be more than happy to answer anything I can." He found himself slightly intimidated by the approximately seven foot tall bird. If it were anything like Earth cockatoos he was well aware of what that pair of jaws was capable of.

"Excellent. First, my name is, erm, Doctor Mareit."

"Donatello"

"Right." The cockatoo seemed perplexed by the strange name. "Well, erm, Donatello, to start out, I do have a concern. Your, erm..."

"Brother."

"Yes, of course. Your brother is not producing nearly enough heat."

Don sighed as he'd already had this conversation once and wasn't terribly thrilled at the prospect of having it again. "We get our heat from our environment. We're not dead, that's just how we work. We're reptiles, cold-blooded."

The doctor looked at Don skeptically, but nodded at the new information. "Well, in that case we, erm, don't really know what's wrong with him without doing further testing. Unfortunately, erm-"

"You don't have anything to compare him to." Donatello supplied.

"Yes. Perhaps we could adjourn to your, erm... brother's room and discuss this further in his presence."

"Is he awake?" Don asked hopefully as Mikey had been out for the majority of the ambulance ride.

Doctor Mareit nodded an affirmative, explaining that they had given Michelangelo a mild stimulant so they could better discuss options, as he led Donatello down the curving hall to Mikey's room. The cockatoo allowed the two turtles to speak amongst themselves for a moment before getting down to business.

"A Numares imaging should be sufficient to determine the problem, but with nothing to compare it to..."

"What's a Newmayrez imaging?" Mikey asked the cockatoo before turning to Donnie. "Do we have those?" Don just shrugged in response as he was equally unaware of what a Numares image was.

"It is a , erm, simple, non-invasive procedure. All that is required is that you remain very still."

"Yeah, yeah, but what is it?" Mikey repeated his earlier question. Simple and non-invasive though it may be, he wanted to know what they were doing to him.

"It is a simple-"

"Put it in words he can understand." Mike suggested, pointing to his brother.

"Would you like the, erm, science behind it?" The cockatoo asked.

"That would be much appreciated." Donatello replied, putting a hand on Mikey's shoulder.

"Very well. For a Numares imaging the patient is placed in a, erm, strong magnetic field. The magnetic field forces all electrons in the, erm, body to line up with that field. When the field is removed an image is collected by looking at the, erm, amount of time required for electrons in the body to return to a disordered, erm, state."

"Wha?" Mikey asked.

"It's an MRI." Don told him.

"A what?"

"Casey had one on his knee last year. It's safe."

"Oh." If Mikey recalled the MRI that Casey had correctly, the man hadn't liked the procedure in the slightest. The problem was that he couldn't remember what it was that Casey had disliked so.

"The problem that remains is that we do not, erm, know what you look like on the inside. Donatello, would you be, erm, capable of determining what should and should not be present?"

Don shook his head. "We don't have access to this sort of equipment, and I never had the urge to dissect one of my brothers."

"Then, unfortunately-"

"In theory, we should be about the same." Don continued with a glance at Mikey. "Scan me too. That would give you something to compare to."

The cockatoo nodded and left the two turtles in peace. Mikey looked truly tired and Don urged him to get some sleep. Moments after Mike drifted off to dreamland, Leo and Raph ran in followed closely by Kermit. Before any of the new arrivals could speak, Donnie signaled for them to be quiet. He stood and the group headed out to the waiting room Don had been sitting in earlier.

* * *

"So?" Raph asked as soon as they were clear of Mikey's room. 

"They don't know. There's nothing obviously wrong, at least that they could find. I didn't look at his chart or anything, but I doubt it would do any good." Don proceeded to explain the upcoming MRI and what little else he knew.

"Are you nuts? You're just going to let them scan him? And you're going to let them scan you too?"

"Raph, it's just an MRI! There's something wrong with Mikey and without knowing what we're supposed to look like, they're not going to know what's wrong. It isn't a bad option."

Raph proceeded to raise objections to allowing these doctors access to what they were. He didn't like being here at all. The hospital reminded him too much of the labs he had been trapped in before. As far as he was concerned there was little difference between the two. Kermit had been appalled at the objections, thinking them outrageous, but Leo had stepped in and tried to diffuse the situation.

"We aren't in New York anymore, Raph. Yes, we're still different from the general populace here, but even you have to admit that they don't seem that interested in dissecting us. That is a problem at home. We're here and we're in deep. Either we let the doctors to what they need to do, or Mikey could get worse."

Donatello chose that moment to add more. "This isn't your normal cold or flu, Raph. Whatever this is might be fatal if left to run it's course. I'd rather take the minuscule risk that they just want to study us than lose Mikey and know that we might have been able to prevent it."

Raph growled and hammered his fists on the table in the waiting room, drawing considerable attention from the nearby nurses. One of them had even called security, fearing for his safety and the safety of his co-workers.

"I know!" Raph agreed. "It's just... I don't like it."

"None of us do. It's a bad situation, but I think that it's best we go along with what the doctors want." Leo said.

The cockatoo re-emerged from the doctors' station and informed the group that the Numares room was ready. Don nodded and the cockatoo invited Raph and Leo along to be present for the scans... AFTER removing all metal from their persons.

* * *

**A/N: **And anyone who knows their _chemistry_/physics/medical/whatever synonyms might be able to pick up where I got Numares from. And see that little blue button down there, the one that says 'Go' next to the 'Submit Review' option? You know you want to! 


	21. Waiting, Diangosis and a Change of Heart

**Disclaimer: ** Don't you people know this yet! I own nothing, I am paid nothing, I make nothing, I mean to harm nothing. Please don't sue. Ok, now that that little pill is out of the way...

**A/N: Isis-Lament** gets a virtual cookie for figuring out that numares stands for Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, more commonly seen as NMR! NMR is the same process as MRI, or Magnetic Resonance Imaging, but the word 'nuclear' seems to scare people. NMR and MRI have nothing to do with nuclear radiation, just the magnetic resonances of the nucleus of atoms. MRI is the term used in medicine, but physics and chemistry, in particular, use the original term NMR. And that is the science lesson for the day! A special THANK YOU to all who read and and an even bigger and specialer **THANK YOU! **To those who took the time to review**!

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**

**Chapter 21: Waiting, Diagnosis and a Change of Heart.**

Leonardo confronted Donatello as soon as the medical technicians had completed the Numares images. Though neither one of them were willing to leave the hospital until they knew more about what had happened to Michelangelo. Donnie was sitting in a stained, funky greyish-pink colored chair.

"You shouldn't be here." Leo repeated the sentence he had heard shortly before he'd been called to the front of the room by Merle and offered a job, well Don had been offered a job, but he'd been playing Don and... that didn't matter.

Something about the way Leo said the words told Don that it wasn't right now that his brother was referring to. "You heard that too?"

"I was meditating through your classes." Leo commented by way of explanation as he pulled a puteka packet from one of the pockets of his belt before standing and going to a hot water dispenser on the other side of the waiting room.

"Leo, is this really the time?" Don inquired.

"I don't want you lost to those engineers." Leo commented quietly, making sure no one else in the room could hear the conversation. He handed the puteka to Donnie. "Drink it."

"And I suppose I have a half-hour meditation session to complete as well?"

Leo nodded. "At least."

Don eyed the puteka in his hands for a moment before chugging the beverage as quickly as he could. It still tasted horrible. He knew that it did what Kermit claimed it could do, but it lacked the soothing sensation he associated with the teas Master Splinter made for them. He tossed the cup away and found a quiet spot on the floor where he sat in lotus position and began the familiar process of clearing his mind.

* * *

Raphael paced the waiting room like a caged tiger, just waiting to pounce on the next person to tick him off. Tensions were incredibly high. Glancing over to the corner of the room he saw Don sitting in lotus position obviously meditating, or trying to. Raph knew that, were he to bother trying, he wouldn't be successfully doing that any time soon, his mind was far too busy jumping from every bad conclusion his currently overactive imagination could come up with to a worse one. He could feel Leo's eyes on him, following his every movement, chasing him all over the room, searching for something. Raph couldn't help but wonder what Leo thought he was going to do, go all Terminator on the nurses? Fat lot of good that would do, but still, he was annoyed. 

"What are you staring at, Leo?" Raph demanded loudly. "Quit watching me like some sort of ticking bomb."

"Are you one?" Leo asked calmly, raising one eyeridge.

"I'm fine. Just leave me alone." Raph snapped. "Why don't you go over there in the little corner with Donnie. You two can be all Zen master together while Mikey's in there sick, possibly dying."

Leo was slightly taken aback by his brother's shout. Though it was Raph, and not entirely unexpected. His red-masked brother had been pretty calm for the whole time they'd been here, almost to the point of it being worrisome. Somehow, it was strangely nice to have something normal at a time like this.

"That's not fair, Raph." Leo replied. "We're worried about Mikey too, but Donnie needs it if he's going to be able to stay with us, and I think you know it."

Leo was right. Raph knew it, but that didn't mean that he had to like it. Which was certainly the case this time; he didn't like that Leo was right at all. Raph growled low in his throat and caught a warning glance from Leo. Responding to an almost imperceptible nod toward the nurses' station revealed one of the receptionists ready to call security again. The look in Leo's eyes was clear enough. 'Not now, Raph.'

"Right, right." Raph said as he attempted to calm himself down, what he wouldn't give for an hour or so with a punching bag. He felt something being pressed into his hands. Looking up he found Leo there and a puteka packet in his palm.

"You're kidding, right?" Raph inquired incredulously. "You don't really think I'm going to drink this junk?"

"It might help you calm down." Leo stated flatly.

"Yeah, but it tastes like snot."

"This isn't the same stuff Don gave us for that hangover." Leo objected. He remembered the concoction that Kermit had given to the purple-masked turtle for that particular purpose, and he certainly couldn't disagree with Raph's description of the taste. "This stuff is different." Leo promised.

"Donnie didn't seem that fond of it when you gave it to him." Raph commented. "What makes you think I'm going to like it any better?"

"Raph."

"No. Leave me alone, Leo. Go meditate or something, you like that stuff. And take your stupid packet back. I'm not drinking it." He threw the puteka packet at Leo, bouncing it off of the top left scute of his brother's plastron, and stormed to the far end of the room. Picking the least questionable chair in the vicinity, he grabbed a magazine from the table that looked like it might be vaguely interesting.

Leo watched the packet hit him in the chest and fall to the floor. He sighed and picked it back up. Then he walked over and sat down on the floor next to Donnie, depositing the packet in the trash bin on the way. He needed to calm down too, and this was one of the best ways he knew how. Some time passed, though Leo wasn't sure how much time, before the cockatoo came back in. Raphael was at the bird's side in a flash and Leo wasn't far behind. He'd considered trying to pull Donnie from his meditation, but if Don hadn't come out on his own when the cockatoo came in, it was probably best to just leave well enough alone. Leonardo and Raphael approached the cockatoo with trepidation.

"We have some erm... bad news and some good news." The cockatoo told the pair of turtles. He eyed Donatello over in the corner, but said nothing. "The erm... bad news is that we found multiple inconsistencies between your brothers. The patient, erm... Michelangelo has several growths in various locations that are not shared by Donatello. The common name for the condition is bulops."

Leonardo blanched as he recognized what he was being told as a description of cancer, and some part of his mind insisted that 'several' meant 'bad'. Glancing at Raph, he could tell that his brother had come to the same conclusion. They waited for the 'good news' that the cockatoo had promised before speaking again.

"The good news is that erm... we have been able to take care of this type of erm... condition in just about every species. Treatment will take a few cirlets, but we are erm... confident that the process will work for your brother as it does for other species."

Leo blinked a moment in confusion until remembering that a cirlet was approximately equal to one day. Even as he was still trying to process the news that Mikey had cancer, Raphael found his tongue and started speaking.

"Wait a minute, you're telling me that you have a cure for cancer?" Raph demanded. "and that it will only take a few days?"

The cockatoo was taken aback by Raph's harsh words. "Yes we have a cure for your brother's condition, though I am erm... unfamiliar with this word 'cancer', but if that is what you wish to call these growths, then yes. We can cure it. As for your second erm... question, I do not understand what these 'days' are."

"A cirlet is called a day where we come from." Leo commented absently. "Can we see him?"

"Of course." The cockatoo responded immediately. "That was part of the reason for my erm... coming out here. Your brother has been moved to another part of the hospital, if you would follow?" Dr. Mareit gestured toward the hallway behind him with one large wing.

Leo had almost forgotten that Donnie was still over in the corner meditating. He couldn't believe that with everything that had happened in the last few moments that his purple-masked brother had stayed under. It simply wasn't like Don to stay in meditation this long, but it was the second time this had happened since they had arrived in this crazy world. Leo hated to pull Don out of it without him being ready to come up on his own, but he felt slightly obligated to at this point. It would be no good for Don to come out on his own and find everyone gone.

"Donnie." Leo called gently as he approached his brother. "It's time to come back now. We can go visit Mikey."

Donatello either didn't hear or ignored the prompting and Leo tried again a little louder and added a small shake to his pleas, but Don still didn't respond. Leo had been in that sort of state before and knew it was best to just leave Donnie to come out on his own, but he didn't know what to do about going to see Mikey. Feeling the cockatoo's gaze on his back, Leo turned around.

"Raph, why don't you go see Mikey. I'll stay here with Don until he comes out of this."

"Yeah, whatever, Leo." Raph growled as he turned to follow the cockatoo.

"Is something wrong with him?" The cockatoo asked of Don as he left the room with Raphael.

"Nah, it's just mind junk we were taught to do."

* * *

Raphael followed the cockatoo and spent a half hour with Mikey before Don and Leo came along to join them. He could hear snippets of their conversation as they came down the hall. 

"They really have a cure for cancer?" Don asked, sounding amazed.

"So they say." Leo affirmed. "apparently it only takes a few cirlets to perform it too."

"Wow, can you believe this place? I mean, the things they can do here are just incredible. And we can walk around in broad daylight and talk to just about anyone. Maybe this isn't such a bad place, Leo. I mean, it definitely has its perks."

"We're going home as soon as Mikey is well and we figure out how to get there." Leo asserted. He'd heard the excitement in Don's voice at the idea of the cure for cancer, and felt it necessary to nip that excitement in the bud before it became a real desire to stay here.

Don quickly revised his previous statement. "I'm not saying that I think we should stay here forever. I want to get back home as much as you do, but this place does have some good things about it. I mean... If this had happened at home..." Don trailed off, leaving the statement as it was.

Leo knew as well as Don did how this whole situation would have ended had it occurred in New York. Dropping his head to his chest, Leo nodded. "I know, Donnie. I just don't want us to lose sight of the fact that we do need to get home. You were offered a job with Merle today. He's designing some sort of engine and wants your unique expertise to assist him. You start tomorrow." Leo cringed when Don perked up a little more at the prospect of this job offer. "I know that under most circumstances that would be a dream come true, but... I really don't want to lose you to them."

Don sighed. "I understand, Leo. Really I do. I know we need to get home, but I really am starting to like this place, crazy engineers with yellow goop and all. I'm sorry, but I can't help it."

* * *

**A/N: **Well, that's all for now! See that little 'Go' button? Don't forget to drop a line on your way out, and I'll see you next time! 


	22. Coming Changes

**A/N: **A special thanks to all who read, and a HUGE THANK YOU to all who reviewed! Proper review responses will be appearing on the Stealthy Stories Forum shortly. If you don't know what that is check my bio pae, but I'm pretty sure I've seen all of you there, so you probably don't need it. Anyway... ON WITH THE STORY!

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**Chapter 22: Coming Changes**

"You're kidding!" Kermit exclaimed in disbelief. "They're only 14? they seem so much older."

"I know." Allison agreed. "But Christie asked them. Donatello figured it out; apparently doing the math in his head. They're about 14 latrex here. I thought they were much older than that too, but they are really just young children."

"How must they have grown up to act so mature?" Kermit wondered aloud.

"I don't know." Allison replied quietly, shaking her head. "But it must not have been easy for them. Have you noticed their scars?" She had become aware of the blemishes early on, but hadn't recognized them for what they were until later.

"Well, what do we do? It wouldn't be right to throw them out on the street with no options. They're just kids." Kermit replied. "And child services would separate them."

"Yes, especially with Donatello having been singled out by the engineers. He would be sent to Gorijan. They'd never see each other again." Alison agreed. "I get the impression that they just want to go home, and I think, until they figure out how to do so, we should do what we can to keep them together."

"What are you suggesting?" Kermit asked.

"Well, we can't continue to employ them at the restaurant. It's against the law, but they need a place to live. Megan, Lindsey and Sarah have already agreed that they can stay with us if they have to, but I hate to move them around again so soon after getting settled."

"You want me to continue letting the apartment to them." Kermit responded knowingly.

"I think that would be the best situation for them. They haven't caused any trouble, have they? They never did anything at the restaurant. Well, at least not on purpose. They are wonderful kids and seem to be pretty self-sufficient."

Kermit wasn't overly thrilled at the idea that he had been letting an apartment to a group of children, but he had to admit that Allison had a point. This was a very special group of children, and the usual rules didn't seem to apply to them. Now that he thought back on it, he could pick out instances where their youth had shown quite clearly through the hardened exterior. Leonardo and Donatello had both come to him when they didn't know how to respond to a situation. And when he'd given them puteka packets they'd displayed a wide-eyed curiosity and innocence that had seemed almost out of place. Recalling the ride to the hospital that he had given Raphael and Leonardo, he had again witnessed the children showing through. At the time, he'd attributed it to their concern and fear for their brother, but with what Allison had just told him, he realized that it was probably just a little more than that.

"Ok, I will allow them to stay, but I won't be responsible for anything they do. This was your idea. I allow this because they have been good so far, and I trust your judgment, Allison, but you are responsible for any damage they cause."

"I would expect no less from you, Kermit. We would be happy to cover any damage they do to your building." Allison agreed with a smile. "Are they still over at the hospital with Michelangelo?"

"That's where I left them about 5 clarets ago. They were more worried than I have ever seen a group dealing with a family member having bulops. Apparently, this is a rather large deal in their world. Family itself seems to have more meaning too."

"I don't think they have access to medical facilities in their world other than what they can do themselves back where they come from." Allison commented. "They were very nervous about being outside among all the people in the streets when they first arrived."

Kermit sighed. "Poor kids. And they actually want to go back there?"

"I guess so." Allison responded. "They believe family is rather important, and quite possibly, it is the most important thing in their lives. Their father is back home, and staying here would mean separating them from one another. They've known that since Donatello was tested. In fact, they're lucky to still have him now."

"But if their world is such a terrible place, that children are forced to grow up so young..."

"I know." Allison agreed, "But that is their world. It is what they know. If they want to return, it's their choice. We cannot force them to stay. I think it best that we treat them as adults as that is mentally what they are."

Kermit nodded his agreement with the statement and the conversation turned to other matters.

* * *

"LEO!" 

Leonardo snapped around at the sound of the voice. He had a feeling he knew who had shouted his name, and he wasn't terribly thrilled at the prospect of the impending confrontation.

"Oh thank Yigril, you're ok!" John shouted as he bounded into Mikey's hospital room and pounced on Leo.

Hearing his orange masked brother laugh, Leo turned to him and shot him a glance that said _'Yeah, I bet you're enjoying this'_ as he tried to extricate himself from John's embrace.

"When you didn't show up for History today I was so worried!" John cried. "I thought something terrible must have happened to you! Why weren't you in class? I saw Don this morning before classes started, but you weren't there."

"I was here with Mikey." Leo responded truthfully. He was just glad that Raph had gone down to find something to eat, and he hoped that his red-masked brother wouldn't be returning too soon.

"Oh," John looked disappointed as he released Leo. "Does he mean that much to you?"

"Yes." Leo responded honestly. Internally, he was shocked that John would think otherwise. Silently, Leonardo cursed himself when John looked at the floor. The guy looked for all the world like a lost puppy who'd just been left out in a cold rain. Leo sighed inwardly and continued talking. "He's my brother, and family is very important to us."

"Really?" John asked. "I knew you guys were brothers, but I didn't realize that they meant more to you than other people just because they're family. Here it's the ones that come into your life and you get along with that are the most important people."

"All we've ever had is each other." Leo told John. "My family means everything to me."

"Can we still be clams" John asked hopefully.

Leo frowned at the unfamiliar term. _What the shell does he mean by being clams?_ He vaguely remembered that when they had shaken hands the first day, John had called it 'clamming hands', and again Leo had to wonder what he had gotten himself into. John's face was doing the puppy thing again and Leo heard himself speaking before his brain could stop his mouth.

"Yeah, we can still be clams." _What the shell did I just agree to! _He heard Mikey snickering again, and he glared at the turtle in the bed.

At the agreement to being clams John launched himself into Leo's arms and hugged the shocked turtle for all he was worth. An action that Mikey seemed to find particularly hilarious.

"Thank you, Leo! We're going to be the best clams EVER! Yesterday, when you were sick, I was afraid that I had done something wrong, and that you didn't want to be clams anymore. I am so glad that you really were just sick."

John continued talking, completely oblivious to the considerable shock and slight amount of horror that registered on Leo's face as he cuddled with the turtle. He was equally oblivious to the guffaws that issued from Michelangelo at the little scene. To Michelangelo, this was almost as good at the night that Leo had been plastered. On the other hand, Leo was definitely going to remember this one so it would be even more fun to tease the blue-masked turtle about this particular incident. Mikey only wished that Raph and Don had been here to see this. Raph at the very least would have gotten a kick out of it, and he had a feeling that Don would have enjoyed it as well, especially given his experience yesterday with John.

Leo looked down at the man who had made himself a seemingly permanent fixture in his lap and couldn't fathom why he had said what he had said. Why had he just agreed to being clams? And more importantly, what the shell was involved in 'being clams'? Awkwardly, Leo patted John on the back, earning another peal of laughter from Michelangelo. A brief thought flitted across his mind that was slightly horrifying. _What are Don and Raph going to do when they see this?_


	23. Clams

**Disclaimer: **I don't own them, I don't get paid, I mean no harm, please don't sue!

**A/N: **Oh, this new edit thing is REALLY narrow. I don't think I like it.

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**Chapter 23: Clams**

"It's a pretty standard internal combustion engine" Don explained to Raphael as they walked. On his way into the hospital Don had run into his brother coming up from the cafeteria with some snacks. He had taken some of the items off Raph's hands and they were headed back to Mikey's room where Leo was keeping their ill brother company for the time being.

"Internal combustion? That's just a normal engine, right? Like the BattleShell or ShellCycles?

"Actually, it just means that something is burning inside of it, but yes it is almost exactly like the one in the BattleShell." Don confirmed. "Except it doesn't run on gasoline; it has a much cleaner burning fuel. Literally, the only by-products are carbon dioxide and water! I should ask if they have anything that runs purely on hydrogen, then you wouldn't even have the carbon dioxide. You wouldn't believe the power this thing can put out! It's really amazing, Raph."

Raphael stopped. Don noticed and gave his brother a confused look. It was easy to see the concern and frustration on Raph's features, and Don realized that it was his own excitement upsetting his red-masked brother.

"Donnie, you had better not be getting the idea that you don't want to go home, because if you are..." Raph warned. He let the statement die there, leaving the promised punishment to Don's imagination. An imagination that Raph knew could be just as overactive as Mikey's when called upon..

"No! No, I do want to go home!" Don exclaimed.

"It sure don't sound like it!" Raph snapped, rounding on his brother.

Don just stared at the red-masked turtle for a moment. "Raph, I-"

"No, Donnie. You're too excited about this new job of yours. I don't think you really want to go back right now. I think that you would be just as happy to stay here as to go home."

An awkward silence passed between the two brothers while Don searched for an appropriate response. The glare he was receiving from Raphael flustered him greatly and made searching for words more difficult.

"Raph," Don finally started, "I do want to go home. I do! But... it is some incredible technology and I guess I..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know how you get." Raph growled. When Don looked down he realized that maybe he had been just a little harsh with his sensitive brother. When he spoke again he was careful to use a softer tone. He knew how Donnie got with technology, but he also knew that Don did have a good sense of what was really important. "Just don't forget about trying to get us home, ok?" Raph finished in a gentler tone as he pushed open the door to Mikey's room with his shell.

"Oh! Speaking of that, Raph." Don said, perking up again and managing to get Raph's attention. I found out how to get some time on a supercomputer, well it is by Earth standards, that can run some simulations for us. I think I have a line on a preliminary code that will allow us to simulate the door locations. With luck, it isn't really a chaotic system. All I would have to do is..." he trailed off as he noticed the scene inside the room. Raph turned around at the surprised expression on Don's face to take a look at what was going on behind him. Spotting John with his head in Leo's lap and the deer in the headlights look on Leo's face, Raph groaned.

"Um... I don't think we have enough snacks for five" Don commented flatly.

"What the shell is HE doing here?" Raph demanded.

"I'm his clam." John replied without missing a beat and completely ignoring Raph's rude tone.

"Oo-ookay." Don responded, more than slightly confused at that particular use of the word 'clam'. He did remember John saying something about 'clamming hands' and wondered if this had something to do with that.

"Alright, John. I'm just going to borrow my brother for a moment." Raphael informed the man in Leo's lap.

"Whatever you need to tell him, you can tell me." John responded. "I'm his clam."

Raph gave Leo a 'Do you want to explain this?' look and Leo shrugged in response. Even if he wanted to, he didn't know how to explain it at the moment.

"I really should go talk to him, John." Leo said.

"He can tell me too!" John insisted.

For a brief moment, Leo was flustered before finally hitting on an idea. "John, in my culture there are some conversations that cannot be shared with anyone." Before John could protest, Leo continued. "Not even clams."

John still looked like he was adverse to letting Leo go, and Leo got the definite impression that this man was going to cause some serious problems for him and his brothers if they didn't figure out this clam thing soon.

"It's my culture." The blue-masked turtle reiterated. "And we can't continue to be clams if you can't respect my culture." A good sized chunk of Leo really hoped that John wouldn't be able to accept it. Leo's life would certainly be easier if John would just disappear from it.

Raphael pulled Leonardo out into the hall, leaving Donatello and Michelangelo in a rather awkward position. Not knowing what else to do, Don looked at the various items in his hands. One was wrapped in plastic, he wasn't sure what it was, but it was reminiscent of a certain food stuff back home. Well, maybe food stuff was giving it too much credit. He offered the plastic wrapped snack to John.

"Twinkie?"

Don noticed that John was staring at him like he'd said something utterly unforgivable. Feeling more than a little self-conscious under the penetrating glare, he tried to explain himself. Though he knew it was in vain, he attempted to ignore Mikey's snickers.

"Um... this thing." Don said, gesturing to the item that seemed to have caused the trouble. "I don't know what it is, but it looks like something we have at home called a Twinkie. If I said something to offend you, I didn't mean to."

"They're spongeods." John informed Don as he accepted the yellow cake. "Don't- don't say that word again."

"What word?" Mikey asked. "Twinkie?"

John cringed and glared at the turtle on the bed. "YES! That word, I can't believe that you two would be so insensitive! How can you possibly be related to someone as wonderful as Leonardo is?"

Donnie and Mikey looked at each other in utter confusion in response to John's outburst. It was quickly becoming clear that there were aspects of the language here that were foreign to the Turtles. Apparently, the word Twinkie was incredibly insulting, and if Don wasn't very much mistaken, a clam was a boyfriend at the very least. He just hoped it wasn't more than that. A little thought scampered across the back of his mind, wondering if Leo had known what he was getting himself involved in when he agreed to be John's clam. Somehow, Don doubted it.

"John, we honestly don't know what is so upsetting about that word. We don't know what it means here. I assure you, we meant no offense. It's just what spongeods are called where we come from." Don tried, in an effort to calm the irate man.

John took a deep breath. "Why does Leo tolerate you guys? Why can't he just focus on those who come into his life rather than being so focused on family all the time. Family isn't that important!" John insisted. Apparently still peeved about Leo going to spend time with Raphael instead.

"Don't tell Leo that." Mikey advised. "It's different where we're from." He added, getting a little upset with John's words himself. "All we've ever had, all we've ever known, is each other. All we've ever had is our family, and there isn't anything more important than that! So come off it. No one can come into our lives because we're not part of the world!" He then rolled over and turned his back to John, effectively ending the conversation.

Don was shocked at Mikey's words. If he didn't know better, he'd have thought they had been spoken by Leo or Raph, not Mikey. He wasn't sure how to respond to that, but he too had been hurt by John's words, and he wasn't about to let the man stay here and upset Michelangelo more.

"I think it's time for you to go." Don ordered, glaring at John for all he was worth, and doing his best impression of Raphael at his most menacing.

"Fine, if that's what you want. I'll go."

"That's what we want." Mikey added from the bed. "Scram."

John headed toward the door.

* * *

**Meanwhile**

"Leo, are you nuts?" Raph demanded of his blue-masked brother. "Why was John sleeping in your lap?"

"He wasn't sleeping, he was-"

"Fine, he was cuddling." Raph cut Leo off. "Which is SO much better than sleeping. What the shell is with you, Leo?"

"I didn't know what I was agreeing to, Raph!" Leo snapped.

"So why'd you do it?" The red-masked turtle demanded angrily.

"I- I'm not really sure. He just got so upset and did that puppy-dog eyes thing and... and then I said we could still be clams."

"Ok," Raph glared. "So, what's a clam."

"I don't know! I don't know what I just agreed to. I don't know why I just agreed to it, and I'm really beginning to wish I hadn't!" Leo glared at his brother. "On the other hand, John doesn't yell at me over small stuff!"

"Small stuff? You call that small stuff? Leo, he was CUDDLING with you! Cuddling, that's something that most people associate with special friends."

"Special friends?" Leo asked, confused.

"Significant others." Raphael tried, surprised that Leo didn't seem to know what he was talking about. "Friends with benefits?" He tried, using the most obvious word was just something he couldn't do, not when referring to Leo and John. It was just wrong. But still Leo didn't seem to get it, so Raph decided to just lay it out there. "I think you just agreed to be John's boyfriend!"

Leo stared at his brother. "What? No way, that can't..." He trailed off as he realized that Raph was probably right. "Oh shell. What did I just do?"

It was at that moment that John stormed out of Michelangelo's room and grabbed Leo by the wrist as he marched by.

"Hey! What-"

"We're leaving, we're not wanted here." John growled, glaring at Raphael as he passed.

Leo effortlessly removed his arm from John's grasp. "I'm not leaving here. Mikey's sick."

"These guys aren't worth it, Leo. They're the most insensitive gooriks I've ever met. We're not wanted here, and we're not needed here. Let's go." He reached out for Leo's wrist again.

"No." Leo glowered, pulling his wrist away from John's reach. "I don't know what you just called my brothers, but no one insults my family. I told you where my stance on this issue is. They're my brothers. I'm not leaving."

"We're not wanted here." John reiterated.

"No," Raphael inserted. "You're not wanted here. There's a difference."

John glared at Raphael. He sent a pleading look to Leo, but realized that the blue-masked turtle wasn't going to back down this time.

"Fine." John growled. "You want to stay that's fine, but I don't have to like it, and I don't have to like you're hilrigs of brothers!" With that, John stormed out.

"Good riddance to bad rubbish." Raph commented. "Come on, Leo. Let's go check on Mikey."

Leo nodded, but somehow felt strangely upset at John's departure. Like he'd really let the man down somehow. He forced the feeling away. What did he care what John did? All the same, he couldn't shake the emotion. He even found himself wondering how Raph could be so callous.

"I'd be happy if we never had to see him again." Raph told Leo, clapping his brother on the shell. "Let's just be glad he's gone so we can take care of Mikey." He opened to door and ushered Leo back into Mikey's hospital room.

"Is he gone?" Donatello asked as Raph and Leo came back.

"Yeah, he's gone." Leo replied, with a trace of regret in his voice.

Don eyed his blue-masked brother critically, but refrained from comment. Maybe he'd talk to Leo later, but for now, he was quite happy to have John out of the picture. "Good." He responded quietly, turning his attention back to his conversation with Michelangelo and the spongeod in his hand.

* * *

**That Evening**

Don opened an envelope Merle had given him as he had been getting ready to come to the hospital after work. He pulled a single sheet of paper out of the envelope. The words on the otherwise ordinary sheet caused him great distress.

"What is it, Donnie?" Leo asked, noticing the change in Don's demeanor. In response, Don simply handed the paper to his brother.

"Not good. How many days is Mikey's treatment supposed to take?"


	24. Best Laid Plans

**A/N: **I'm baaaaaack! Sorry about the delay, I was visiting family and didn't really have Internet access, and when I did, I didn't have it to this computer. Anyway, now to continue the adventure!

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. The Turtles and everything associated with them are owned by Mirage. I make no financial gains out of this and I mean no harm. Please don't sue.

* * *

**Chapter 24: Best Laid Plans**

**-Five Cirlets Later-**

"So, you really think you've got something, Donnie?" Leo asked as he looked at the screen over his brother's shoulder. Don had managed to bring a laptop home from his job and had used it to access the series of simulations he had set running the previous evening.

"I think so. I was able to gather enough past locations of the doorways between the worlds to find a system of equations that seems to fit."

"Seems?" Raph checked, joining Leo in looking over Don's shoulder at the screen.

"Well, I only have a few points to go by. It's not necessarily a periodic system, Raph. There could be untold trillions of other possibilities."

"So you really have nothing?" Raph corrected Don's previous statement.

"What I have is a location that is likely, occurring hourly on average, in sixty-eight percent of the simulations I've run.."

"You have but-face." Mikey commented, noticing the look of concern that Don had been wearing since he first said anything about the portal location possibility. Mike noticed that all three of his brothers were staring at him, along with Cora and Miguel who had been helping Don with the sims and access as he got acquainted with the computer systems here, about the comment. Only then did he realize what it had sounded like. "I, uh, I mean it looks like you're about to say 'but there's this really horrible news'." Michelangelo had completed his treatment and had been released from the hospital earlier in the day. Now, he was back to his old self and thoroughly annoying and confusing his brothers.

"Uh, right." Don commented absently as he turned back to the monitor. "But the location is in the forest beyond Koyes Glade."

Cora and Miguel gasped. Don sighed at the confused look he received from his brothers. Though Leo appeared to recognize the location as having some sort of significance, he didn't seem to be able to figure out where he'd heard it before.

"That's where the gairen live." Miguel reminded the turtles who had forgotten that little piece of information.

Leo nodded, but acted as though he was unfazed. "If it can get us home-"

"There's a possibility that it can get us home." Don reminded him.

"If there is a possibility that it can get us home," Leo corrected himself. "Then I think it's worth the risk. We already know we're unaffected by that plague-"

"Yeah, one of those things was in the restaurant the first day we were here." Raph commented, interrupting his brother.

"So, if the disease can't affect us, going into their territory can't be any worse than going up against the Shredder." Leo concluded.

"I agree." Don said. "And I, for one, do not want to stay here." He shuddered at a brief memory. A few days ago, his supervisor had handed him a sheet of paper and asked that Don fill it out. Upon reading it, he realized that it was a transfer form. They wanted him to go to a place called Gorijan. From what Donatello had been able to gather from the sheet, if he filled it out and went to this Gorijan place, then he would be there for the next 7 latrex and wouldn't be allowed to return to his brothers... ever. That piece of paper had put a real damper on the enthusiasm he had begun to feel for this world. Despite the fact that Don had neglected to turn in the sheet, he had received a second step form yesterday. When he had asked about the form, Merle had explained that he had sent in the first stage form on Donatello's behalf upon hearing that it had not yet been turned in.

"I kind of liked being able to get medical help." Mikey commented softly.

"We're glad you got it too." Leo told him, putting an arm around the orange-masked turtle's shoulders. "But don't you want to see Master Splinter again?"

Michelangelo nodded. He did want to see Master Splinter again, and April and Casey too, but he did not like what he would have to give up in order to do so. This time it had been him, but what if next time it was one of his brothers and they lacked the access that Mikey had been so lucky to have.

"We were lucky this time, Mikey. And we realize what we will be giving up by going back. It's a gamble, but I think it's one that we need to take. We don't belong here, this isn't our world." Leonardo insisted gently.

"And I don't want to be taken away from you guys." Don added as he pulled up yet another simulation run.

Mikey sighed and nodded. He understood, and even agreed, but he didn't have to like it. "So, what do we do?" The orange-masked turtle asked quietly.

Looking at Don, Leo asked, "What's our time line?"

"Well, we don't know exactly when the doors are open. I can't be sure of the terrain, so it could be longer, but I'd guess that it's about a day long walk to get to the door from here." Don responded quickly.

"What about your time line?" Leo added.

Don frowned for a moment. "Chances are that the form was sent in by Merle today so I'm probably ok being around tomorrow, but I'm not sure." He glanced at Cora and Miguel for confirmation.

"Those forms take about two days for processing." Miguel explained to the Turtles.

"So if it was sent in today, then he should be ok tomorrow, but you need to leave by the next day." Cora added.

"Right." Leo nodded, taking in the new information. "Tomorrow we get supplies and take Mikey in for his follow-up appointment. The next day, we get the shell out of here."

Content that the results he had were accurate enough, or at least as good as they were going to get, Don stood up and moved over to his bag. The Shell Cells were too dependent on Earth technology to function here, but he thought he had something a little older, a predecessor to the Shell Cells. He dug through the duffel and found, there at the very bottom, an old pair of TurtleComs. They were, in reality, little more than glorified walkie talkies, but they sent out their own direct signals, unlike the Shell Cells which tapped into normal cell phone airtime. With this world's technology, the TurtleCom was about as secure as one could ask for too. He had just been a kid when he had created these, more as toys than anything else so they were not quite as refined as the Shell Cells were, but they would get the job done.

"Wow, Donnie, you still have those things?" Mikey asked incredulously.

"I thought you got rid of those when you built the Shell Cells." Raph added.

"These are the last two. The others were cannibalized for parts, but right now I'm glad I kept them. I hope we don't need them, but just in case."

"Just in case of what?" Leo asked, as he accepted the device from Don.

"Well, I don't want to have been wrong about when Merle sent that form in and not be able to contact you."

Leo eyed the old device and handed it to Raphael, who seemed to want it. It had been something of a joke, but Leonardo had never quite figured out the TurtleComs He could use a Shell Cell just fine, but there was something about the TurtleCom that he just did not understand so giving the device to Raph just made more sense.

Raph turned the old device over in his hands a couple of times, remembering all the games they had once played with them when the TurtleComs were little more than toys. It seemed so strange to use them as an actual serious communication device, but this was a strange world so he pushed the oddity aside. Eventually he tucked the little device into the pouch on his belt that usually carried his Shell Cell.

"Alright, we're probably ok until after lectures, but just in case, I want what we have here to be packed up and ready to go tonight." Leo ordered, taking command of the situation. Immediately after lectures, Mikey and I will go to his follow up appointment, and Raph, I want you to get the remaining supplies. We shouldn't need much, but I want to be prepared, just in case this is a longer walk than we're expecting. Also, we used most of the medical supplies when we got here, so try to replace those."

"Medical supplies after lectures, check." Raph responded. "Anything else we need?"

"Anything you can think of needing on a day long hike." Leo responded. "but don't go overboard."

"Hey, what? Do I look like Mikey?"

"Hey!" Michelangelo cried in dismay. "I'd totally get only the bare essentials!"

Don laughed at his brothers and started getting his bag packed up again. He would need space for whatever supplies Raph picked up tomorrow so he knew he had make sure everything was packed as compactly as possible. Hopefully tomorrow would go exactly as planned, and there would not be any unforeseen complications.


	25. T Minus Two Cirlets and Counting?

**Chapter 25: T - 2 Cirlets and Counting?**

Raphael was already writing a mental list of supplies they might need. He was not sure of the best place to look for the supplies and figured that he could ask Kermit later. Generally, he saw the frog around after lectures. If not, there were several other people he could ask.

Leo sighed as they finished up theirKvilethiacianux 'lesson' for the day.

"Come on, Mikey," he said. "We've got three clarets to get you to the hospital for your appointment.

It was Michelangelo's turn to sigh. "yeah, yeah, Leo. I know." With that, the two bid adieu to Raphael and made their way to the hospital.

Raph did not immediately leave the lecture halls, instead he searched for someone to point him in the right direction for supplies. He had been looking for Kermit, but the first person he found was Jake, the busboy from the restaurant.

"Hey Raphael," Jake greeted, "long time, no see. Where have you been?"

"Around."

"Around? That's good, I guess. I thought you'd disappeared, maybe gone home."

"Yeah, about that," Raph saw his opportunity, "We're getting ready to head out, and need a few supplies. Think you can help me out?"

* * *

"There are an awful lot of cylinders, and they're not tuned very well. It's possible that you could get the same amount of power with fewer cylinders. Reducing the number of cylinders can also make it more fuel-efficient." Don explained to one of his coworkers. 

"How would we fix that? Change the compression ratios?"

Don frowned a moment. "That's one way to do it. Raph's really better at this sort of thing than I am." Only then did he realize what he'd said, and he quickly shut his mouth.

"Raph? Your friend Raph?" The man he was talking to asked.

Donnie was just about to answer when Merle called him into his office. _Saved by the bell,_ he thought before giving a quick shake of his head, hoping that the questioner would take that as a negative answer, and excusing himself from the conversation without answering the question. He headed up to his supervisor's office and shut the door behind him as instructed.

"I am disappointed to hear that you did not turn in your Gorijan forms, Donatello. I thought engineering interested you."

Immediately Don got the impression that he was walking on very thin ice. The wrong response here could easily earn him another yellow bath, and that was _not_ something he wanted to do again.

"Why didn't you turn in your forms?" Merle asked.

"I'm sorry, sir." Don responded. "But I'm afraid that I don't really know what Gorijan is."

"You don't?"

"No sir, I am not from around here." Donatello responded as innocently as he could, doing his best impression of Michelangelo trying to get out of trouble.

Merle sighed in disbelief. "Gorijan is the premier engineering institute in the world. Only the best of the best are accepted, and you have the opportunity to go. With your unique expertise you have a distinct advantage over your competitors, though your strength is also your weakness as you don't understand our technology as well as would normally be required. All the same, I think you will do well there."

"Will?"

"Yes, your hesitance to fill out the necessary forms will not stand in the way of your going to Gorijan. I figured you wouldn't fill out the second step forms so I did it for you as I did the first stage forms. You leave for Gorijan immediately after work this evening.

Donatello nodded, smiled and gave Merle a slight bow as he left the room. _That's what you think.

* * *

_

"Oh come on, Mikey. They did a whole lot worse to you a few days ago, what's the big deal now?" Leo asked as Michelangelo tried to get away from the syringe the doctor wanted to use to get a blood sample.

"I was delirious then, Leo. I'm not now." He snapped his attention around to the doctor and did everything in his power to scramble away from the syringe. "Keep that away from me!"

"Michelangelo." Leo said in an imitation of Master Splinter's warning tone. A tone that immediately had his brother's attention and caused the orange masked turtle to hold still for a moment. It was a brief moment, but just enough time for the doctor to get the needle in.

"You tricked me!" Mikey objected, shooting a glare at his brother.

"Yeah, well, you forced me into it." Leo responded quietly.

As soon as the blood sample had been taken and analyzed the doctor pronounced Mikey cured and sent the two turtles on their way.

"Leo!" a now familiar voice called out, causing Mikey to groan.

"Aw, man, not him again!" The orange masked turtle commented quietly to Leonardo.

"Why don't you go on back to the apartment, Mikey? I'll take care of this and be back as soon as I can."

Mikey only made a noise in the back of his throat before heading off

* * *

Raphael heard the old but still familiar bleep of the TurtleCom he carried in his belt. Oddly the noise seemed more ominous now than it had all those years ago when they had played with the items as kids. The sound caused him to freeze in his tracks and Jake was quick to notice. 

"Hey, you alright?"

"Uh, yeah." Raph responded quickly before pulling the TurtleCom from his belt and answering it.

"Raph, how are you doing with the supplies?" Don asked in a voice that seemed subdued as though he didn't want someone to overhear.

"Almost done, I think this should be the last stop. Then I'm heading back to the apartment." Raph could not keep the suspicious tone out of his voice. Something was up on his brother's end of the plan, otherwise Don would not be calling.

"Good, that's good."

Raphael couldn't help but notice that Donnie seemed distracted. "What about you?"

"I've got..." a long pause followed the statement, but Donnie eventually picked it up where he left off. Raphael had a feeling that his brother had nearly been caught "I've got a bit of a situation here. Merle didn't send those papers in yesterday, he sent them shortly after he gave them to me. I'm supposed to leave right after work. You guys can do whatever needs to be done, but I need to be gone by then."

"Somehow I wouldn't put it past those guys to hunt the rest of us down if you don't cooperate, Donnie." Raph said.

"You're probably right. We need to get out of here this ASAP. See if you can get a hold of Mikey and Leo. I'm going to try to slip out of here without anyone noticing, but I need to be sure that you're going to be ready to go before I do. Once I'm out we won't have much time." There was another brief pause before Donnie's voice came over the line again, this time his words were rushed. "Gotta go, Raph. I'll call back when I can."

With that the connection was cut and Raphael was holding a silent TurtleCom.

"What is that thing?" Jake asked.

"It's a communicator." Raph answered. "My brother made them when we were kids."

"A communicator? You don't need wires?"

Raph was surprised by the question. _Wires? _ "No."

"How does it work?" Jake asked, holding out his hand in hopes of getting to hold the small device.

"You're asking the wrong guy." Raph responded quickly. "I just use 'em, I don't know how they work."

"No wires..." Jake seemed positively amazed by the device that Raphael considered so mundane. Don had built these years ago. This place had always seemed to far ahead of the technology that had been designed on Earth, and yet they didn't have wireless communication! All the same, Raphael opted to put the TurtleCom away instead of letting Jake see it.

"I've really got to get this done and get home." Raph said quickly by way of explanation, rather hoping to draw Jake's attention away from the TurtleCom, and he was successful.

"Right." Jake said as he grabbed the last item on Raph's list and tossed it into the basket the red-masked turtle carried.

Rushing to the front of the store, Raph made his purchases the hurried back to their apartment. He stuffed the items into Don's bag as best he could and ran off in search of Leo and Mikey, who he expected should be just about finished with Mikey's appointment .

The bag was slung awkwardly over his shoulder as he ran through the city in an attempt to find his family. Raph was annoyed to find that with every step the bag smacked him in the back of his left leg. Somewhere in the recesses of his mind he wondered how Donnie managed to fight while carrying the stupid thing.

* * *

"You're leaving?" John asked despondently when Leo had explained the situation to him. 

"We have to go, we all do John. My brothers and I, we don't belong here. You have to let us go. You have to let me go."

"but... but we're clams. You can't just leave me, Leo!" John threw his arms around his clam and started sobbing on Leo's shoulder. He relished the feeling of the scales under his cheek and soaked up the slight movements as Leo tried to react to the impromptu hug. The feeling of Leo's muscles sliding beneath the scaly skin was bittersweet to John. He soaked up every bit of it he could and prayed that this wouldn't be the last time he ever felt it.

Leonardo could feel his resolve beginning to crack. _What the shell is wrong with me?_ He wondered to himself as he awkwardly returned John's embrace.

"I- I don't belong here, John. This is your world, not mine. I can't stay here with you. I'm sorry, but I just can't stay."

"Leo, you're the first clam I've ever had. The only clam I'll ever want. Please, don't leave me!" John wailed. "You're the first person who's ever accepted me for what I am, for who I am. Don't leave me, Leo. Please don't leave me." He begged. Tears poured down his cheeks as he spoke.

"There's a big world out there, John." Leo told the man who was still wrapped around him and threatening to pull them both to the ground. "You'll find another clam, a better clam, someone you can stay with forever. I can't be that person, John. I have to go back."

"But you aren't accepted there. You're accepted here, I accept you here, others accept you here. You don't need to hide. You can just live like normal people."

The turtle shook his head. "Staying here means that I would have to lose one of my brothers, John. We've talked about this. Family is very important to me, that's just the way we were raised. Losing one of my brothers would be like losing a part of myself. I can't let that happen. For my family to stay together, we have to go home, that's all there is to it. I have to go, John. I can't stay."

Leonardo spotted Raphael as Raph spotted him, and he was surprised to see his red-masked brother here, and even more surprised to see him closely followed by Mikey. He didn't miss the slight rolling of the eyes he got from both his red and orange masked brothers. Obviously, things had not gone according to plan. Just as Raph was beginning to explain his and Mikey's presence the TurtleCom bleeped again.

* * *

**A/N:** There, nice long chapter, are you appeased for the time being? (looks hopeful) Well, it has been a while for this little missive. Hopefully updates for both this and Amiah will start coming a little faster. I have several more chapters written for each of them, but editing takes a bit more motivation and a lot more time than I have had lately. Don't forget to leave a review on your way out! 


	26. Escape From Jiarlin

**Disclaimer:** If you think I own the Turtles or anything related to them, you are very, very wrong. I'm just playing with them for a little while I promise to put them back when I'm done. I mean no harm, please don't sue.

* * *

**Chapter 26: Escape From Jiarlin**

Raphael picked up the TurtleCom a second time, and again it was Donatello on the other end. Had it been someone else, they would have been in big trouble.

"Yeah, we're together, and we're ready to head out." Raph confirmed after a quick glance at Leo and Mikey when Don asked about their state of preparedness for leaving the city. "Where are you?"

Hastily memorizing the directions they were given to a meeting spot, Raphael hung up and tucked the TurtleCom back into his belt.

"So, I guess this means you're really going?" John asked sadly from his spot still plastered against Leo's plastron.

"Yes, I'm really going." Leo nodded as he looked down at John.

"Let me come with you." John begged. "I don't want another clam. I want you."

"John, you don't belong in my world anymore than I belong here. You just can't come with us."

"Please, Leo. Let me come with you. Please don't leave me alone. Please." John hugged his clam just a little tighter and tried to memorize everything he could about Leo. His scent, the feel of his powerful muscles and the way they moved under his wonderful, scaly skin. The deep brown of his eyes and the slight striping he had along his neck.

"John," Leo complained as he tried to get the man off of him.

"Please, at least let me come with you to wherever you're going to leave this world."

"It's in gairen territory. I couldn't in good conscience allow you to be left there. We won't be able to protect you on your return trip."

"I don't care." John insisted. "If you're gone, I'd be better off eaten by the gairen than left here. Let me come."

As Leo continued his attempts to rid himself of the John-shaped leech, he heard himself agreeing with the man's request a second time. He found himself immediately released, and not quite understanding what had just happened to make him consent to the crazy plan. A quick glance at Mikey and Raph revealed that they were not the least bit pleased with this latest development, but they did not seem to be interfering either. All four immediately hurried toward the meeting place that Don had suggested.

* * *

Donatello was hiding in the shadows when his brothers arrived... with John in tow. He remained there for a brief moment, searching for the people he knew couldn't be far behind him before making his presence known. Even Leo hadn't noticed his hiding place, though he had to admit that his blue-masked brother seemed to be slightly distracted by John's presence. Don himself was a bit baffled by John being here, but he seemed to be traveling as part of the group. With a sigh, Don stepped out from his hiding spot. 

"We have to move quickly, they've probably already noticed that I'm gone."

Leo nodded and the quintet was hurrying through the city's streets without another word being spoken. During their run, Don managed to get close enough to Raphael to ask what was going on.

"John's coming with us to the portal."

"What? If the gairen are anything like we've heard, he doesn't stand a chance of getting back." Don objected.

"He knows, and he doesn't care."

"but-"

"Just drop it, Donnie." Raph snipped. "Nothing we say is going to stop him anymore than anything we said stopped him at the hospital."

"He didn't like us saying 'Twinkie' at the hospital. That got him to leave."

"Yeah, well, I don't think that's going to work this time. He's pretty attached to ol' Fearless if you haven't noticed."

"I actually did notice that one." Don commented as he ran. He was a little surprised at how well John seemed to be keeping their pace. When he'd found that the man was coming along, he'd actually hoped that John would change his mind when he found out just how fast the turtles intended to move.

"Halt!" someone shouted from behind them. The four turtles and John all did as they were ordered then slowly turned around to face the speaker.

"Donatello," The man in the front of a group of five shouted. He had been the one to call for their halt. "you are to come with us." All five officers held a spray can in each hand.

"You're _got_ to be kidding me." Raphael muttered under his breath, only to be shushed by Leo.

"I will not." Don shouted in response to the order.

"By order of the People of Jiarlin and the Academy of Gorijan, you will comply."

Leo stepped in front of Donatello, and Raphael and Michelangelo took flanking positions, forcing Don behind them.

"You are not taking him." Leo informed the officers. "You will not break up our family."

"You stand no chance against us." The officer informed the turtles. Don couldn't help but notice that John was cowering behind him, and he rolled his eyes. "We are experts in the way of Kvilethiacianux."

"We have been underestimated before." Leo countered. "You are not taking him."

"You, child, have no choice in the matter." The officer continued as he stepped toward the group.

Leonardo responded by drawing his swords. "I do not wish to hurt you, but you cannot be allowed to take my brother." He felt Mikey, Raph and Don following his lead behind him by pulling their own weapons free.

The officer, tired of talking to Leo turned his focus to Don. "It is required by the People of Jiarlan, the Academy of Gorijan, and the Profession of Engineering, that you come with us, Donatello. You have no choice in this matter."

Don felt a vague pulling on his thoughts and almost broke from his brothers to follow the officers and do as he had been ordered, but he used a light state of meditation that Master Splinter had taught them so long ago to force that vague pulling out of his mind. His thoughts were his own, and his choices were his own. The People of Jiarlin, the Academy of Gorijan and the Profession of Engineering were not his masters, and they did not dictate his actions.

"I do have a choice." Don shouted back, stepping in front of Leonardo. "I make the choice to stay with my family. I am leaving, and nothing you can do will make me stay."

Having been moved behind Donatello, Leo immediately felt John latch onto his shoulder. He could feel the man cowering behind his back.

"You should not be standing up to them, Leonardo." John urged. "They know kvilethiacianux."

"We will be fine." Leo promised. "We've dealt with more difficult opponents than these guys.

"They are well trained." John continued. "I have seen them in action. They know moves that no civilian knows.

Leo nodded, but ignored John's suggestion. "We can't leave Donnie here, John. I won't leave without him, and I can't stay here." Behind him, he could feel John sigh and nod.

"If you do not comply we will be forced to take action. I recommend you comply, Donatello." The officer held out his spray bottle menacingly.

"Um, is this some sort of joke?" Don asked sideways to Mikey.

"Nope, this is apparently what they do."

"Right."

The turtles just waited in a defensive position for the officers to make the first move. In a strange world, they certainly did not want to be seen as the attackers, though that is probably what it would look like no matter what happened here. All the same, they waited.

Leo stepped forward again and all four stood in a straight line facing their potential adversaries.

"We do not belong here." Leo said so all could hear him. "Just let us go on our way."

The lead officer was the one to respond again. "The rest of you are free to do as you will, but Donatello must come with us."

"Sorry, we're a family, and you aren't separating us." Mikey challenged.

"It ain't gonna happen so you can just forget it." Raph added.

All four turtles moved at the same time, diving to the sides to avoid the spray that shot from the lead officer's bottle. Leo managed to grab John by the shirt and pull him to the ground.

"Get clear." Leo ordered shortly, and John was quick to comply. He didn't leave completely, but he got to his feet and moved out of the way.

First 'shot' fired, the turtles jumped into the fray, getting in close to their opponents. Leo, Raph and Mikey had quickly learned that the kvilethiacianux practitioners didn't like to be too close to their opponents. Spraying someone too near you could result in painful back splash. Using hand to hand combat weapons was a distinct advantage, and the turtles were quick to press that advantage. Leo disarmed and downed two of the five officers and Mikey, Raph and Don took one each. The battle had been over before it even began. Racing away from the scene, Leo grabbed John's arm as they ran by.

"You still want to come?" He asked hastily of the man who had declared them clams.

"I won't leave you, Leo. You're my clam." John insisted, picking up his pace to catch up with Raph, Mikey and Don who had pulled ahead of them.

"Remember, this was your decision. I can't be responsible for anything that happens to you from here on out." Leo informed the man. Even as he said it, he knew that he was lying to himself. John had become a part of their group, and Leo took care of the group, no matter what.


	27. Koyes Glade

**A/N:** Ok, people. First off, I'm not done with John, he is not a gratuitous character that I can just 'kill off', he has a purpose which he has not yet served. Yes, he's an annoying, blue-haired idiot. Yes, he's a drain on the group (especially Leo). Yes, the guys want him gone. Yes, there is a reason Leo let him come along! Yes, I will explain said reason when that time comes!

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing. I make no money. I mean no harm. Please don't sue.

* * *

**Chapter 27: Koyes Glade.**

"You sure you know where we're going, Donnie?" Raphael asked as they continued their hike across the glade. They had been walking for several hours as it was, and the forest beyond Koyes Glade didn't look any closer now than it had three hours ago, at least it didn't as far as Raph was concerned.

"If you mean 'are we going around in circles' then the answer is no." Don replied quickly. "Once we get to the forest directions become a little less concrete, but for now, we just walk towards the woods."

"Yeah, right."

"The gairen haunt those woods." John informed the group needlessly, still clinging to Leo's arm. Leonardo himself, had given up on trying to get the man to let go several hours ago. They still had a long trip ahead of them, and until Leo _really _needed that arm, he had a feeling that it was going to stay in John's clutches, like it or not.

* * *

The relief Leo felt at finally reaching the forest was short-lived. It was only a moment after entering the woods that the blue-masked turtle froze in his tracks. 

"Leo? Mikey asked, noticing the sudden stop first as he was directly behind the blue-masked turtle.

"Someone's watching us." Leo whispered to those around him, Raph and Donnie had turned around when Mikey had spoken.

"It's the gairen!" John said in a harsh whisper. "We're gonna die! They're gonna kill us! I told you we never should have come here!"

"Will you shut up!" Raph growled, silencing the panicking man. Perhaps if he had used a little more force in his voice it would have caused John to pass out from fright, and Raph wished he had.

Leonardo pulled his arm from John's grasp and drew his swords, he could feel his brothers follow suit as they circled up, standing back to back with John in the middle. The man obviously couldn't protect himself and as annoying and foolish as he was, they couldn't just let him die.

"They look like they mean business, Xio." A voice said from the nearest patch of trees.

"They almost look like gairen too, except for the biznak in the middle." Another voice chimed in. "but there's something different about them."

"I'm not a biznak! I'm a gorak!" John shouted at the voices.

"Great, just give them reason to attack us." Raphael growled. "shut up!"

"Aw, I think the biznak's gonna cry!" The first voice taunted.

Leo turned around and silenced any more protests from John.

"Knock it off, Spot." A third voice growled.

"Ow! Hey!"

"Guys, quiet." A fourth voice ordered gently. "Kiz, what are they?"

The second voice was the next one heard so apparently it belonged to Kiz. "Well, at first glance I'd say they're gairen, except for the gorak, but they're too short, perhaps juveniles?"

Leo shot Raph a warning glance to silence the 'we ain't gairen, an' we ain't kids,' he could almost hear from his brother.

"Have you seen them before, Spot?" The fourth voice asked.

"No, never." That was the first voice again, and likely belonged to Spot.

"They may be from another colony, or they may not be gairen at all" That was Kiz again.

The four turtles could do nothing except listen to the conversation of the creatures that surrounded them.

"I say we take 'em out. They obviously don't belong here." The third voice growled.

"Togue, we don't know why they're here. Until we find that out, I say we give them a chance, provided they put away their weapons."

"Xio, are you nuts? You're not seriously suggesting we let these things in!" The third voice, Togue, demanded.

"I never said that, I merely suggested that we hear them out," Xio insisted.

Leo just barely made out the next comment, and from his brothers' sniggering, they had apparently heard it as well.

"and besides, the gorak is kinda cute." Leo turned around and saw John blushing thirteen shades of... blue? He took that moment to sheath his swords and knew that both Don and Mikey had put their weapons away as well, but Raph's sai remained in his hands. "Raph, stand down." Leo ordered. He heard Raphael growl, but the sound was followed by the nearly silent whisp of metal on leather.

"We mean you no harm. We just want to get home." Leo called to the voices, holding his hands out to the sides in a position of surrender.

"The Vast Nothing lies beyond these woods." Xio explained. "You have gotten turned around."

"No, we have not. We do not wish to go completely through the woods." Leo told them. "Only part way, then we will be gone."

"They're talking gibberish, Xio, I say we take them out while we can!" That was Togue again.

"No," Donnie insisted. "We're not from this world. There's a portal between the worlds, it's only open some of the time, but it lies within your forest. We just wish to get to this portal so we can go home."

"Kiz?" Xio asked.

"I suppose it's possible. I've heard of portals between worlds, but I've never actually seen one. You really came here through a portal?"

"Yes, we found it by mistake." Don continued. "From the research I've done since we arrived, I believe that a portal to our world opens withing your forest every hour or so."

"Hour?" Kiz asked, not understanding the term.

"Sorry, um... four to five clarets?"

It took a moment for comprehension of the statement. "ah, two nolars."

Don blinked before realizing that Kiz had just make reference to yet another way of measuring time.

"Really?" Kiz sounded interested. "A portal in our forest? I would like to see that!"

"Um, right," Leo cut in, "well, anyway, all we'd like to do is go to this place, and wait for a portal. Once it opens we'll be gone. You won't have to worry about seeing us ever again."

"They're feeding you a line, Xio. You don't actually believe them do you?"

"I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt, Togue. They're lost travelers and we should show them hospitality. I do not believe them to be Jiarlin warriors. The weaponry is wrong."

"Times change, Xio. They could be spies!"

"Togue, hold!"

"You are a fool, Xio!"

"Do those two sound like anyone we know?" Mikey asked Don quietly. Donnie chuckled quietly in response.

"It does seem rather familiar." Don agreed. Raphael turned around and glared at the two quietly laughing turtles which only gave them more to laugh about, but they worked very hard to keep a straight face.

"I'd better not find out that you're making this decision based only on your desire to get the gorak into bed."

All four turtles went wide eyed at Togue's bluntness.

"Yup, he's definitely a Raph." Mikey commented wisely, and quietly to Don who laughed and nodded in agreement.

"Watch it, Mikey." Raph warned.

A moment later four... turtles jumped down from trees surrounding the quintet on the ground.

Please forgive Togue's rudeness. He doesn't much care for visitors." Xio smiled as the other three moved around to flank him.

Leonardo bowed and felt his brothers do the same behind him. "Thank you for allowing us passage through your land. We really just want to go home."

"Understandable." Xio returned the gesture.

"What are you?" Kiz asked.

"Who are you?" Spot added. Michelangelo stared at Spot in mild confusion.

"We are turtles. Like we said, we're not from around here." Leo replied. "My name is Leonardo, and these are my brothers: Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo. And the gorak is John."

"I'm his clam." John said as he latched back on to Leo's arm, causing the turtle to roll his eyes.

"There go your chances, Xio. Still wish to allow them passage?" Togue asked quietly.

"Yes, I do. This has nothing to do with the gorak." Xio stated, though he had not missed Leonardo's exasperation with John's statement and actions. It did not look like a happy clamming to him.

"Whatever." Togue harrumphed.

"Anyway," Xio continued with a glare directed at Togue. "My name is Xionicho, and these are my comrades: Toguean, Kizinarri and Spot."

Michelangelo was still staring at Spot's utter lack of spots. Spot had no spots on him at all; he had stripes, a lot of multicolored stripes. The whole thing kept drawing Mikey's mind to that old Fuzzy Wuzzy rhyme with the naked bear.

"And we are gairen." Xionicho concluded. "Please follow us. We shall escort you to your destination."


	28. Into The Forest

**Chapter 28: Into the Forest**

Leonardo could hear Donatello and Kizinarri swapping theories behind him and had to smile. Those two had sought each other out almost the instant introductions had concluded, and they had been chatting ever since. Raphael and Toguean were in front of him being as menacing to each other as they could possibly be, and if Leo wasn't very much mistaken, they were quite enjoying themselves. Leonardo himself was enjoying the peace Xionicho had provided by chatting up John. Some part of Leo told him that he was supposed to have been offended, but he shrugged it off and enjoyed the walk while keeping an eye on his family. It was far too enjoyable to watch John squirm under Xio's unwanted affections to try to put a stop to it. A burst of laughter from Mikey and Spot told him that those two were probably having more fun than was in the rest of the group's best interest.

"Oh boy, you are one lucky guy, Leo. Landing yourself a gorak like that!" Xio smiled as he came up behind the blue-clad terrapin. "Man, that one's HOT!"

"Um... yeah, something like that." Leo agreed hesitantly as John latched back onto his other arm.

"Are you not happy with your clam?" Xio inquired in hushed tones.

When Leo spoke again it was under his breath, though from the distracted look on John's face, the man probably wouldn't have noticed if Leo had shouted his next statement. "I don't really understand what a clam is so I'm not sure how to answer that question. I do believe that him following me here was foolhardy. He cannot come to my world any more than I can stay here."

"Ah, so you are trying to keep your distance from him. Now I understand."

Leo tried to hide his skepticism, but apparently Xio picked up on it all the same.

"You believe that I do not understand?"

"I believe that you only have half the story. I'm not sure I understand the whole story."

"You have great comrades and a wonderful clam here, why would you want to leave?"

"I have my reasons." Leo stated flatly. "Not the least of which is that we need to return to our father and friends back home. And those Jiarlin people were trying to separate us. That cannot be allowed to happen. To stay together we must return home."

"You were in Jiarlin?" Xio asked suspiciously, halting suddenly.

Leo caught the tone and realized that he had quite possibly made a grave error, all four of the gairen had stopped at Xio's question. He knew that he and his brothers would have to tread carefully.

"We were there for a short while. As we were leaving their police forces confronted us, trying to separate us. As I said, that cannot be allowed to happen. We are not their allies. From what I have seen so far, what they told us about you is far from correct."

Xionicho eyed Leonardo carefully. "Do you speak the truth, turtle?" He asked darkly.

"On my honor, it is the truth." The back of Leo's mind registered the fact that John was clinging to his shell again.

"Honor," Toguean scoffed. "You are from Jiarlin and you speak of honor!"

"We ain't from Jiarlin!" Raphael objected. "We didn't even want to be there! All we did was land in the wrong place."

Don tried appealing to Kiz. "Really, they wanted to take me to some place called Gorijan. They threw me in this weird goo. What they're doing is wrong, and I cannot agree with it. As fascinating as their technology was, their practices are unforgivable. We take family and honor very seriously, Kiz. We're not like them, that's why we have to go back."

Kiz looked at Don, he had found trust for the turtle during their conversations.

"I think they're telling the truth, Xio." Kiz spoke up, barely heard over the growing argument between his comrades.

"They really tried to separate you?" Spot asked Mikey.

"Yeah, they wanted to take Donnie away. I won't lie, I'm only alive and well today because we were there, but they're right, we don't belong in this world, and we sure as shell don't belong in that city."

Spot added his voice to Kiz's and was equally drowned out by Xio and Togue. The four turtles sighed and sat down, knowing the beginning of a long argument when they saw one. Well, Raph and Leo took their cues from Mikey and Don.

"HEY!" Spot shouted over Xio and Togue's bickering, demanding the attention of all nine beings present. When he had it, he continued. "They're lost. If we were lost among warring nations in another world, we'd just want to get home too. We shouldn't stop them."

"And they're just kids!" Kiz added.

"We ain't kids!" Raph insisted.

"Raph, you're not helping." Leo snapped under his breath.

"Actually, by their standards... we are." Don informed. "They don't consider themselves adults until twenty-five latrex. We're fourteen, remember?"

"Whatever." Raph grumped.

"If you two are still against it, I will take responsibility for them." Kiz offered, earning a disbelieving look from Togue and Xio.

"Kiz?" Xio asked. "You'd really..." Xio sighed and nodded, "Ok, we'll help for now."

"Thanks." Don said quietly to the Gairen next to him.

"I just stuck my neck out for you, Donatello, and I won't take kindly to you deciding to chop it off."

Don blinked at the statement. "No, we'd never. We just want to go home."

Kiz nodded and the group continued walking. After some distance they came to what seemed to be a town, though it was unlike any town Leo had ever seen before. Tree dwellings were the most common, but there were also cave-like mud structures on the ground. None of the high flying plastic and chrome of Jiarlin could be found here. For the first time in his memory, Leonardo was walking among streets full of beings that looked just like him. His brothers seemed equally awed by the experience.

Michelangelo stared up at an exceptionally tall gairen. The creature's nearly nine foot stance dwarfed the four turtles.

"He is one of the group's elders." Kizinarri informed the orange-masked turtle. "Gairen continue to grow throughout their life. Usually, the taller the gairen is, the older he or she is."

"Amazing," Donatello muttered under his breath, having overheard the comment to Mikey.

"Halt!" The sharp order came from behind the group.

"Aw, man!" Mikey complained quietly. "How come everyone keeps telling us to halt!"

Still, all four turtles, John and their gairen companions obeyed the sharp order. This time when the group turned to the shout, the group they faced did not carry spray cans. They carried wooden weapons: nightsticks, tambo, three-sectioned staff and nunchaku with the sections tied together with leather, jo and bo staffs as well as other weapons the turtles had no names for surrounded them.

"Somehow, these guys are a whole lot more threatening." Donnie whispered to Mikey

"Xio, what is the meaning of this?" The lead officer demanded. "Why do you continually bring strangers into our city?"

"They are but lost children." Xio explained. "They wish no more than to go home, and I see no reason to stand in their way."

"Xio, we have discussed this."

"You also said you trusted our judgment."

"They are armed!" The officer shouted, noting the weapons the turtles carried.

"As are you." Xio reminded the officer in front of him. "They are travelers from another land, and their weapons are holstered... unlike yours."

The lead officer glared at the gairen he spoke to. The group surrounding the turtles and their companions seemed well trained. Leo had watched them and taken note of how they moved and held their weapons. It was almost second nature to him at this point, and he knew that his brothers were similarly watching the beings who could quickly become enemies. The blue-masked turtle tried to shrug John's hands from his shell. If he needed to move, he couldn't have that someone in the way like that. Unfortunately the gorak was unable to take a 'subtle' hint.

"Xio," Toguean warned under his breath. "if this is all just because you want to zybbol that gorak, I swear I'll kill you when we get out of here."

"They're kids, Togue. You know as well as I do that they're not a threat."

Apparently, the officers disagreed with Xionicho's assessment of the turtles.


	29. City of the Gairen

**Chapter 29: The City of the Gairen**

Leonardo drew his katana as the first officer rushed the group, and he knew that his brothers had reacted similarly. Additionally, he noted that their gairen traveling companions were also armed and holding their own against, if not utterly wiping the floor with, the officers they faced. Leo jumped over a wooden weapon he could not put a name to, it seemed like a variation of a staff, but the shape was unlike anything he had ever seen before. He leapt backwards to avoid another strike before catching a third between his swords. From there he went low and knocked the feet out from under his opponent. The gairen with the weird staff was back on its feet almost instantly. A pricking at the edges of Leo's senses told him that another gairen was getting far too close for comfort. On in front, one behind, Leo jumped and a quick split kick knocked both to the ground. The strike rendering them harmless without killing either one. Once they were down, Leo looked for his next target. He spotted John cowering near some trees, no one was trying to harm the man... er, gorak...er, whatever, and Leo continued his scan. Spot seemed to be having some difficulty and Leo jumped into the fray again, this time offering aid.

Spot was surprised when the blue-masked turtle jumped in and knocked his three-section staff wielding opponent away. They had recognized earlier that these children were skilled far beyond their years, but this was most unexpected. Spot said a quick thanks and used one of his own short staffs to pick off another opponent.

"Coming at you, Togue!" He shouted as he kicked the officer toward his comrade.

Togue greeted the new arrival with a sharp blow from his three section staff. Raphael stood at Toguean's back and caught a staff not unlike Donnie's bo between his sai. With a quick flick of his wrists he had snapped the weapon in two. A sharp kick put the officer on the ground and out for the count. Raph jumped away and launched himself more deeply into the fight.

Kizinarri sighed as Spot came up behind him and turned so they stood back to back. "Why must it always be like this?" He asked of his comrade.

"I really couldn't tell you." Spot replied as they jumped clear of two rushing opponents who ended up taking each other out.

"I just seems so pointless." Kizinarri hooked another officer with his S-staff and spun around as he pulled his opponent toward him then kicked out hard enough to pull the other gairen's feet out from under him.

Don saw Kiz's move with the S-shaped staff and made note of it. That wasn't something he wanted to get caught by, and he was facing an officer with the same weapon Kiz carried. Donnie watched the gairen closely and made his move quickly. He went low first before bringing around the other end of his weapon at a higher level. The gairen caught his bo in the curve of the S-shape and quickly spun his weapon, ripping the bo from Don's hands.

In the moment Don realized that he'd been disarmed he faked a kick before punching the gairen in the neck. The gairen fell, but before Don had the chance to try and retrieve his weapon he found himself under attack by another opponent. He ducked the three-sectioned staff and grabbed the S-shaped one that had so recently been dropped. Don raised the S-shaped staff just in time. He whipped it into a vertical position and the rope of the three-sectioned staff wrapped around the S-shaped one just above his head. Michelangelo came up behind the gairen at that moment and quickly put him down with his nunchaku.

"Thanks, Mikey." Don said as he threw the three-section staff entwined S-shaped staff aside and flipped across the distance to his own weapon.

"No prob, bro." Mikey commented quickly as he came back to back with his brother. Mikey spun his weapons defensively and grinned at an opponent in front of him. Only a split second passed before the gairen grew tired of the grin and rushed at Mikey. The turtle quickly downed the gairen and hopped away from his brother's side in a quest for more opponents.

He came across a gairen with a single nunchaku and grinned broadly as he went into an elaborate series of movements using both of his own weapons. He didn't miss the slight widening of the eyes he got from the gairen he faced. This was the fun part. Michelangelo had been born to show off.

"Mikey, Behind you!" Raphael shouted as he threw a sai and disarmed the gairen behind Michelangelo of the short staff he carried. Having drawn the officer's attention away from his brother, Raph focused on downing the distracted gairen while Mikey dropped the one in front of him and darted after another.

"Why can't you people just let us go home?" Raph shouted as he punched the gairen who had come up behind Mikey and left him on the ground.

Only a few of the officers remained, and Xio noticed that the gorak was no longer being left alone. Two gairen were closing on the blue haired man and Xio rushed in to aid the frightened being. His weapons, not dissimilar to Mikey's nunchaku, spun rapidly. In the end he did not use them, opting instead to try the kick he had seen Leonardo perform earlier. The split kick was completely unsuccessful and Xio landed on the ground in a heap. Not that he was entirely surprised by the outcome, in fact he was able to use that to his advantage. From the ground he whipped out with his arms and wrapped the ropes of he weapons around the ankles of the officers that had been bearing down on John. A quick jerk landed both opponents on the ground and Xionicho jumped to his feet before swiftly delivering another blow to each gairen to ensure that they would stay down. By the time he turned around the battle behind him had ended. Between himself, his comrades and the turtles, they had made particularly fast work of the gairen officers.

"They're all alive." Togue reported. Even as he did he turned to Michelangelo who happened to be behind him. "You kids fought well and have passed the test." He then gave a completely confused Mikey something that seemed to be a bow. A bow that Mikey mimicked clumsily as it was nothing like the bow he had been taught.

Xionicho nodded at Toguean's report before he, Kizinarri and Spot all joined Togue in the strange bow. Leo returned it without much trouble, and Don and Raph looked at each other quizzically before also doing their best to attempt the awkward position.

"Hey, they tried!" Spot laughed when he caught the strange look on Togue's face at the turtle's attempts to bow correctly. The four turtles then stood and gave traditional Japanese bows as they had been taught so long ago. Motions that were equally awkward for the gairen to imitate.

"Looks better when they do it." Spot added at his and his comrades' attempts. Earning a laugh from his comrades and even a nervous chuckle from a couple of the turtles.

"Are you alright?" Xio asked of John as he offered the gorak a hand up.

"Y- you saved me." John stuttered in disbelief. Looking at this gairen now, he didn't see the stranger who was trying to pull him from his clam. He saw someone that might one day be a friend. While the gairen officers had been moving in on him, John had been silently begging Leo to come save him, but the blue-masked turtle had never arrived. Instead it had been Xionicho to come to his aid. The gairen also had a rather pleasant smile. A smile that John found himself returning as he accepted the hand up that Xio had offered.

Once John was standing again Xionicho made his way to the lead officer and nudged the unconscious gairen.

"Hey, wake up." He demanded. "No harm has come to you or your men. May we be on our way now?"

"Xionicho, you are reckless. You must stop putting our village in danger as you do."

"I told you they were harmless. You should know by now that my comrades and I would never bring untrustworthy beings into our forest."

"Yeah, yeah." The officer muttered, "Get out of here. Let them go home or whatever it is they want to do."

"Wait a minute, this whole thing was just a test!" Raphael demanded. "What kind of-"

"Let it go, Raph." Leo ordered quietly but authoritatively. "It's their world and their way." He could tell that Raph desperately wanted to say more on the subject, but a quick battle of the wills resulted in Leo as victor. He knew that he would pay for this victory later, but for now they would get to go home. The way Raphael had his arms crossed petulantly over his chest was more than enough to assure Leo of future punishment for said victory. Leo decided that he would deal with it when it came; this was not the time.

"Guys, can we get out of here before anyone changes their minds?" Don asked quickly. He didn't like this forest at all, and wanted out of this world. A small part of his mind could feel himself wanting to go back to Jiarlin and Gorijan. That part of himself frightened him. The drive to go back was weakening as he distanced himself from the city, but he could still feel it. He wanted to get home as soon as possible, the gairen weren't the only ones who might suddenly change their minds.

"Yeah, let's go." Leo nodded. He looked to Don to take them toward the potential portal. "You're the one who knows where it is. Lead the way."

Leo turned and noticed Xio and John having a quiet conversation. He smiled hoping that the little talk would turn into something that would keep the gorak off his back.


	30. Puffies

**A/N:** And here we are, closing in on the end of this little missive of mine. After this there will be one more chapter then an epilogue. Enjoy!**  
**

**Disclaimer:** I still do not own the ninja turtles, nor do I see that changing in the near (or far) future. I make no money from this and I mean no harm. Please don't sue.

* * *

**Chapter 30: Puffies**

"So, you think there's a portal or something around here somewhere?" Spot asked Donatello as they made their way through the forest. "Because Kiz here has been looking for one of those for several latrex, and has never found one."

"It should be around here somewhere, but it's not open all the time. You need the right place and the right time to find it." Don explained.

"So that was the trouble. They're a four dimensional system?" Kiz said as he stepped toward his comrade and the purple-masked turtle.

Don nodded in response. "And there should be a strange attractor around here somewhere" He replied as he looked around. Considering that the first time they had come across a portal had been completely by accident, he did have a couple of doubts as to whether they would be able to really see the things at all. It was entirely possible that they were not visible to the naked eye. If that was the case then they would just have to hope they got lucky and fell through it again. If that was what they needed then it could quite possibly be a very long wait.

* * *

It was turning out that Donatello as right and that it was going to be a bit of a wait. They had decided to camp for the night, and Xio had built a fire. Shortly thereafter, Spot started pulling items from his pockets... items that, by all rights, never should have fit in those pockets. Yet, he continued pulling out items. Mikey watched in amusement as more and more stuff came from the seemingly bottomless pocket. 

The four turtles watched in amazement as Spot proceeded to stretch several of the items from the pocket into long sticks and carefully balanced the items on a log. That task completed, he reached for a few of the other items he had removed from his pockets. He pulled a tiny, bright magenta puffball from a bag and stuck it on the end of one of the sticks before offering the stick to Mikey, who was watching with the most interest. Michelangelo cocked his head to the side at the stick and tiny puffball then looked at Spot.

"It's a puffy. You're supposed to hold it over the fire." Spot explained.

Mikey's mind suddenly jumped to 'mini-marshmallow', but he'd never seen one quite that color... or quite that shape. Additionally, the thing could have been an animal or some sort of mushroom. To be honest Mikey didn't have a clue, but the thing looked cool. He accepted the stick and held the puffy over the fire. By this time the other three turtles had moved a little closer, interested in what the puffy was and what exactly their bother was doing.

John was confused by Leo's behavior. The turtle always came across as so mature, so grown up, and yet here he was, just as fascinated by the puffy as any of them. He had been trying to talk with Leo for the whole trip, but the blue-masked turtle constantly seemed to be distracted by one thing or another. It was getting more than frustrating. All the same, he parked himself right at Leo's side and watched as the turtle held the puffy over the fire. Xio sat down on the other side of John and spent his time trying to get the gorak's attention. This was proving to be as much of a challenge to him as John getting Leo's attention.

"What is this thing?"Mikey asked, not for the first time.

"You'll see." Spot responded with a grin.

Mikey gave the gairen puppy eyes that didn't get him an answer to his question. Instead he asked it again, in hopes of a response. And he continued to ask questions.

"So... what is this thing?"

"A puffy."

"What's a puffy?"

"That." Spot responded with a laugh. He wasn't about to answer Mikey's questions.

"Is it done?"

"No, you'll know when it is."

"How?"

"Trust me, you'll know."

Well, that could go on for a while yet, so it's time to check in on someone else.

Kizinarri laughed as he watched Spot and the turtles. Spot was great with kids of all ages. He was proving right now that said kids need not necessarily be gairen juveniles. All four turtles seemed to be enraptured by the mystery of the puffies. Kiz felt Toguean walk up next to him.

"He's good with kids, isn't he."

Kiz laughed quietly at the comment. That was definitely an understatement. "Yeah, he is. He doesn't run that center for nothing, Togue." Kiz told his comrade. "Kern and Miri absolutely adore him." He continued, referring to his own two children.

Togue was the youngest of their group, and Kiz couldn't help but notice how the younger gairen was eying the red-masked turtle. It was a look that Kiz was sure he had once given his own clam, Norugaura. If all went to plan then once these turtles had returned home, this watch would be over and Kiz would get to spend the next 20 cirlets with his family before he was expected back at work or on watch. He would have then 10 cirlets of work before returning with his comrades for their next 10 cirlet watch. His vacation was long overdue and Norugaura had managed to get the same days off. Their two young were out of lessons for the season and spent most of their days at Spot's Center. Kiz was looking forward to the time with the family he had seen far too little of since the war with Jiarlin had begun three latrex ago.

Togue then turned his attention to Xionicho and the gorak, John. "Xio's really lost it this time." He commented to Kiz, shaking his head.

"Oh, you know Xio. Always looking, no matter how much of a challenge it seems."

"He's got a clam! When is the last time you've heard of someone leaving their clam?" Togue demanded in hushed tones, he had started looking at Leo and John, but he couldn't stop his eyes from drifting to Raphael. Sure, the turtle was just a kid, but Togue had watched him fight, and that kid could _fight. _Maybe he was being a bit of a hypocrite about Xio and the gorak, but he didn't care. It wasn't in his nature to let mild hypocrisy get in his way. Besides, he thought the turtle was hot, but he wasn't drooling all over him.

"Good point," Kiz agreed. "Still, I can't say that John and Leonardo act like any clams I've ever seen before. It all seems very one-sided."

Togue had to give his comrade that one. Leonardo simply didn't seem interested in the gorak, certainly not in the way that Xionicho was interested. The whole thing was very confusing. If Togue hadn't seen Leo fight while John cowered earlier, he would have wondered if the turtle hadn't been forced into the clamming. It wasn't something he had heard of in his lifetime, but he knew that it had happened in the past. Still, John didn't seem like the kind of person who would force anyone into... well, anything really, much less claim a clam in the violent fashion associated with forced clammings.

It was about that moment that Mikey's puffy... puffed.

"AAAAAHHHH!" Mikey screamed a high pitched, girly scream as the tiny puffy on the end of his stick popped and became a much larger puffy. He only just managed to keep the stick in his hands.

Leo, Raph and Don were shocked at the puffing of the puffy for a moment before they started laughing at their brother's scream at the incident.

"You can take it out of the fire now, Mikey." Spot explained. "I told you that you'd know when it was done."

Michelangelo looked quite embarrassed about the incident as he pulled the puffy from the fire. Raphael's puffy chose that moment to pop, startling the red-masked turtle into a soft yelp that earned him a laugh from Mikey, who still hadn't tried his puffy. Leo's and Don's puffies followed shortly, earning jumps and startled looks from them, though both just barely managed to refrain from an audible yelp as they now knew what the puffy was going to do. Spot's puffy went a moment later and the gairen nonchalantly pulled it out of the fire and popped it in his mouth. The four turtles watched Spot, still holding their own puffies on the ends of their sticks.

"Are you going to eat them or not?" Spot asked the four turtles with one raised eyebrow.

All four turtles eyed the items on the ends of the sticks, wondering whether they should eat the puffies or not. Mikey was the first to stick the item in his mouth. Raphael did so a moment later, followed by Don then finally Leo.

"They taste... carmelly." Mikey commented after a moment. The other turtles nodded in agreement.

"What are they? I mean... where do they come from?" Don asked, once he'd swallowed the puffy.

Spot looked at the turtle for a moment. "There are some things that are best left a mystery, Donnie." He informed the purple-masked turtle as he clapped him on the shoulder.

Hearing that response, Don was quite sure that the puffy wasn't something that he had really wanted to put in his mouth. Anytime someone said that you didn't want to know where you food was coming from meant that it was something gross. On the other hand, with all the things that immediately sprung to Don's mind as to what the puffy might have been, he couldn't imagine that the actual thing was worse.

At Spot's response to Don's question, Leo was sure that he turned a slightly greener shade of... well, green. He decided that he didn't want to think about what he had just put in his mouth anymore.

"So, Don, when is this thing supposed to show up?" Leo asked, hoping to change the subject and get his and his brothers' thoughts off of what they had just eaten.

"Well, I can't really answer that with certainty. Hopefully it will show up within an hour or so, but there's also the added complication of whether or not we will be able to see it." Don responded, grateful for the question that allowed him to think about something other than the puffy. He didn't want to admit that he felt a little strange, he passed it off as having eaten something weird. From what Spot had told them, the puffy certainly counted as 'weird'

Leo was about to respond when something caught his attention, every sense snapped to high alert. "Did you guys hear that?" He asked quietly. From the reactions of his brothers, they obviously had. In fact, looking around, it seemed that the only person who hadn't heard it was John. "Stay alert, guys. Be ready for anything."


	31. Return to

**Chapter 31: Return to...**

"You!" Xio hissed as the people who had made the noise that had put Leo and his brothers on alert made their presence known: Jiarlin forces.

"This time, we're not after you." The leader of the Jiarlin squad growled back to the gairen. "We're after the turtle."

All eyes immediately went to Donatello as if he was the only turtle in the group.

"Well, you can't have him!" Leo shouted, taking a step in front of Don. Mikey and Raph followed his lead.

"You are trespassing on sacred land! The agreement signed in-"

"Shut it, Xionicho." The Jiarlin leader shouted. "We are not here to fight. We are here only to collect the turtle."

Don actually took a step forward, toward the Jiarlin troops with every intention of going with them until Mikey out a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back. Only after Mikey had stopped him did Don realize what he had been about to do.

"Donatello and his brothers are under our protection!" Xio shouted. "You cannot take them from this sacred place anymore than you can fight here. They are here with us and here they shall remain."

The Jiarlin leader rolled his eyes. "Donatello, come along." He said. Again, Don started to move, only to be stopped by Leo this time.

"What do you think you're doing?" Leo demanded of his brother in a hushed voice.

"I- I don't know." Don admitted. "Just every time he calls me like that I forget where I am and what I'm doing." He explained quietly. "Leo, really, I don't want to go back there."

Leo nodded. Apparently whatever that yellow stuff had been, it still affected his brother on some level. He nodded and silently promised Don that they'd get home. They were going home, not back to Jiarlin, not back to the gairen city, not anywhere else. Whatever happened here, he realized that they couldn't count on Don to fight at their side. On the other hand, if this came to a fight he needed someone to make sure Don didn't wander off to the other side. Searching his surroundings, he hit on a possibility.

"John, come here." Leo said with a quick gesture. He was actually a little surprised that John rushed to obey.

"Donatello!" The Jiarlin leader ordered the purple-masked turtle to follow once more and Don started to obey.

"Mikey, stop him." Leo snapped. He could feel Mikey complying with the order behind him and turned his attention back to John.

"John," Leo said calmly. "I need you to do something for me."

"Anything." John promised.

"I need you to keep Don out of the fight, and make sure the Jiarlin guys don't get him. If he doesn't respond to you talking to him and keeping his attention then call one of us, but do NOT let them take him. Can you do that?"

John looked nervously between Leo and Don for a moment before hesitantly nodding. If this is what Leo wanted him to do then this is what he would do.

"Just try to stay out of the way, ok?" Leo added as he pushed Don toward John.

Don glanced at his surroundings and found a spot that seemed out of the way of any fights that might break out. "Over here." He said to the blue-tinted man who had latched onto Leo.

"I thought I was supposed to keep you out of the fight." John commented.

"Well, if it becomes a problem, you'll know." Don commented giving the gorak a half smile. He didn't like being shoved away from the fight, but he understood the reason.

Leo had been right. The argument between the gairen and Jiarlin forces escalated until the Jiarlin leader pulled out a spray bottle. One that Xio was quick to relieve him of. Togue and Raphael were almost immediately after other Jiarlin troops and Leo and Mikey joined the fight a moment later with Kiz and Spot.

Twice the leader called out to Donatello before Leo knocked him out cold with the handle of one of his swords. After which time, Don was tempted to go join the fight, but Leo had shouted for him to go back. Reluctantly, Don did. Which turned out for the better as a moment later, a Jiarlin officer tried to sneak up on him and John. Don made quick work of the officer, dropping him before he even got a chance to attack.

"Well, that was effective." John commented of Don's dealing with the now unconscious officer before leaning against a tree and... falling through it.

Don blinked for a moment before he realized what had happened. John had found their portal.

"HEY GUYS!" He shouted on the top of his lungs. "We've got a portal!"

Leo turned to look toward Don's shout.

"Go." Xio told the young turtles. "We can take care of them." The battle was nearly over and Xio had no doubt that they could handle the remaining Jiarlin forces.

"You fight well." Togue said to Raph. "I'm glad I met you. Now go."

Raph wasn't quite sure what to make of Togue's comment and tone, but he muttered something along the lines of 'Thanks. You too' and ran toward Don and the portal that probably would not last much longer. Leo had already disappeared through it.

"Guys." Don shouted insistently, noting that the portal had been open for quite some time and was going to move on them if they didn't hurry up.

* * *

"But Leo, I want to stay here with you!" John insisted.

"John, you can't. This is no kind off life. You belong in the sun, and this world... I can't give you that. Please, John. Go back. You'll find someone else. Someone better."

"Leo..."

"John. Go. Please." Leo begged. "I can't give you what you deserve. Go back. Please. You're a great guy, someone out there will be lucky to have a clam like you, but it can't be me. Please go."

Donatello tumbled through the portal into the alleyway, unnoticed the the couple already present just in time to witness what happened next. Leo was rather surprised when John leaned over and kissed him, rather passionately on the lips. In fact, 'surprised' was something of an understatement.

"I love you, Leo."

What Leo said next shocked even him.

"I love you too, and that's why you need to go."

A look passed between turtle and gorak and John ran after the portal and disappeared back through it as it begun to move. Mikey and Raph tumbled through into their own world as the portal exited the alley and started heading down the avenue beyond. They hurried out of the open into the relative safety of the alley.

There was a strange expression on Leo's face when Mikey and Raph returned to the alley. He still watched the spot where the portal had been when John had disappeared.

"You think they're all ok?" Mikey asked hesitantly after a moment.

"The fight was practically over, they're fine." Raph said with assurance he wasn't so sure he felt. "They're ok."

Without another word between them, four brothers headed for home.


	32. Epilogue: Home

**A/N (a):** Well, ladies and gentlemen! This is it! The end of TOWCaBeT! And I was going to sit on this chapter until tomorrow, but it is going up early thanks to some poking I got from a couple of readers. (yeah, you know who you are). Thank you to everyone who has read this "little" tale. And special thanks to those who have taken the time to review.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the ninja turtles. I make no money from this and I mean no harm. Please do not sue.

* * *

**Epilogue: Home  
**

Leonardo was sitting in the living room reading. Or pretending to at any rate. He had not flipped a single page during the past half hour. His mind was elsewhere.

Donatello wasn't much better off, he had been standing in the doorway watching Leo for the past ten minutes. Deciding that it was about time to make his presence known, he spoke.

"Hey, Leo." Don said as he came more fully into the living area and took a chair near his brother.

"Oh. Hey Donnie, what's up?" Leo asked.

"Not much, good book?"

"Uh, yeah... I-"

"Real page turner, huh?" Don asked with a hint of a grin that told Leo he was being sarcastic. "You weren't reading it at all, were you."

"No, not really." Leo admitted with a bit of a laugh. Don just nodded, not saying anything else. It was Leo who eventually broke the silence between them again.

"Do you regret coming back?" Leo asked. "I mean, I know that you probably would have liked Gorijan."

"I might have been happy there." Don admitted. "And I would be lying if I said that I wouldn't have loved the opportunity to learn from them." Leo nodded and was about to speak before Don continued. "The technology and engineering there was amazing, but the ends does not justify the means."

Leo looked up at Don, searching his brothers face. What he found there spoke of his brothers discontent. "Any regrets?" Leo asked. The question was not answered right away as Don took a moment to word his response.

"The only regret I have, is that we left the system the way it was. That we didn't do anything to try and change it."

"It's not our system to change, Donnie." Leo told his brother.

"It's still not right. Someone should do something."

"And in time, I am sure that someone will, but it's their problem to deal with."

Don sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Then he changed the subject. "What about you? You looked upset about something."

"Heh... it's silly." Leo insisted.

"It can't be that silly if you're upset about it. Come on, spill." He settled back a little as though for a story. It was a movement that pretty much told Leo that he wasn't going to be so easy to chase off.

"I guess I just... I think I miss John."

"You're kidding, right?" Don responded. When Leo shook his head, Don continued. "You miss him?"

"I think so. I mean, he was as annoying as anyone I have ever met, but I don't know. It's just weird. And it's not like he was really a bad guy. He was actually... kinda sweet." Leo was relieved that Don's response had been a short you're kidding and not openly busting out laughing.

Donnie nodded at Leo's response. "You do know that he's better off there, right? That's his world, just like this is ours."

"Yeah, I know, and I'm glad he's there and I'm here. That's how it should be, but still... I guess I just kind of miss having him around."

Don chuckled and clapped Leo on the shoulder. "That's ok, Leo. You're allowed to miss him"

"He kissed me." Leo said, still not quite believing that had happened.

Once more, Don found himself laughing quietly. "Yeah, I saw that."

"I just... no one's ever kissed me like that before, and..."

"Well, Leo," Don commented. "I'm not exactly qualified to give romantic advice, but it is a big world out there. Maybe someday someone else will come along who doesn't mind the whole giant turtle thing." Don had to smile at the weird look his brother gave him. "Hey, it's a nice dream at least. You dream of another John – someone who can love your for who you are without that troublesome what getting in the way – who maybe isn't quite as annoying, and I'll dream of a Gorijan that doesn't include brainwashing. How's that?"

Leo chuckled and turned to Don with a quiet smile on his face. "I think that sounds fair." He spared the clock a quick glance. "Come on, we're going to be late for training if we don't get moving. He stood and offered his brother a hand up.

Don accepted the help up and walked with Leo toward the dojo.

* * *

**& ELSEWHERE &

* * *

**

"Oh John"

"Oh Xio"

"mmmm..."


End file.
